When you make a purchase through links on our article, Future and its syndicate partners may earn a commission.
This article was originally published by The conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Tutorial & Insights.
Sam McKee is a researcher and associate tutor/lecturer in the philosophy of science faculty at Manchester Metropolitan University.
When considering human settlements on the moon, Mars and beyond, travel times, food and radiation risk are given a lot of attention. We will undoubtedly face a harsh environment in deep space and some thinkers are pointing to genome editing as a way to ensure that humans can survive the harsh conditions as they go further into life. Solar system.
In January, I was lucky enough to attend a a much anticipated debate between a royal astronomer Lord Martin Rees and Mars exploration counsel Dr. Robert Zubrin. The event at the British Interplanetary Society was discussing the topic of whether Mars exploration should be human or robotic.
In a recent book called “The End of Astronauts,” Lord Rees and co-author Donald Goldsmith outline the benefits of exploring the solar system using spacecraft and robotic vehicles, without the cost and risk take people on the journey. Dr. Zubrin supports human exploration. Where there was some agreement was in Rees’ advocacy using gene editing technology to enable humans to overcome the enormous challenges of being an interplanetary species.
Our genome is all the DNA present in our cells. Since 2011, we have been able to edit genomes easily and accurately. First came a molecular tool called Crispr-Cas9, which today can be used in a high school laboratory at very little cost and has even been used on the International Space Station. Then came techniques called base editing and prime editing, by which minor changes can be made to the genome of any living organism.
Related: Humanity may need to change its DNA to colonize Mars
The potential applications of gene editing to allow us to travel further are almost limitless. One of the greatest dangers that astronauts may face in deep space is higher doses of radiation, which can cause many processes in the body and increase the risk of cancer in the long term.
Perhaps, using genome editing, we could insert genes into people from plants and bacteria capable of cleaning up radiation in the event of radioactive waste spills and nuclear fallout. It sounds like science fiction, but eminent thinkers such as Lord Rees believe this is vital to our progress across the solar system.
Identifying and then inserting genes into humans that slow down aging and breakdown of cells may also help. We could also engineer crops that resist the effects of exposure to radioactivity as crews will have to grow their own food. We could also personalize medicine to an astronaut’s needs based on their particular genetic makeup.
Imagine a future where the human genome is so well understood that it is applicable to this new, personalized medicine.
Genes for extremes
Tardigrades are microscopic animals sometimes called “water bears”. Experiments have shown that these tiny creatures can withstand extreme temperatures, pressures, high radiation and starvation. They can even to endure the vacuum of space.
Geneticists are eager to understand their genomes and paper published in Nature an attempt to find the main genes and proteins that give the small animals this unusual stress tolerance. If we could insert some of the genes in question into crops, could we make them more tolerant of higher levels of radiation and environmental stress? Worth exploring.
Of further interest is whether tardigrade genes could be inserted into our own genome to make us more resilient to the harsh conditions of space. Scientists have already shown to human cells in the laboratory developed an increased tolerance to X-ray radiation when tardigrade genes were inserted into them.
Transferring genes from tardigrades is just one speculative example of how we might be able to engineer people and crops better suited to space travel.
We will need a lot more research if scientists are to get to this stage. In the past, however, some governments have sought to enforce strict restrictions on the use of genome editing, as well as other technologies to insert genes from one species into another.
Germany and Canada on the most prominent, but elsewhere restrictions appear to be easing.
In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced that it was the first gene editing created children. It introduced a gene into the unborn twin that confers resistance to HIV infection.
The scientist was later in prison. But he has since been released and allowed to do research again.
In the new space race, some countries may go as far as genome editing that other nations would not, especially in the west where restrictions are already tight. Whoever wins would reap enormous scientific and economic benefits.
If Rees and the other futurists are correct, this field could advance our expansion into the cosmos. But society will have to agree to it.
There will likely be resistance, due to the deep-seated fear of changing the human species forever. And with mainstream and mainstream editing now advancing the precision of targeted gene editing, it’s clear that the technology is moving faster than the conversation.
One country or another is likely to take the leap when others pull back from the brink. Only then will we find out how viable these ideas really are. Until then, we can only speculate with curiosity, and perhaps excitement as well.