by In a quiet pocket of Arizona, hundreds of people die after suffering blood clots almost instantly. Some of them die in the middle of the fair, while others go “calmly” before killing themselves, often strangely.
The reason, it turns out, is a crashed satellite, bringing the deadly pathogen from space. US Air Force “wildfire” crews race to stop extraterrestrial aliens – and prevent a global crisis.
That’s the plot of The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton’s science fiction bestseller published in 1969. Now more than 50 years later, US politicians and disaster planners are taking the story much more seriously.
As humanity pushes further into space and flights to and from space become routine, a new report from the US Bipartisan Commission on Biosafety has urged governments around the world to “act now to address the threats emerging biologics at the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease. .”
Forget the little green men of Hollywood folklore. The greatest danger, says the commission, is not aliens or UFOs, but microorganisms and the rigors of space travel. That, as well as the non-fancy use of biological weapons in space.
“Human exploration of the solar system and beyond continues, and with that exploration, biological risk increases,” say the commission’s authors in their May 2024 National Biodefense Blueprint.
“Explorers or visitors to extraterrestrial environments must not introduce organisms from Earth into those environments. On the contrary, they must also ensure that they do not bring back any extraterrestrial or mutated microbes that may pose a threat to human health, animals, plants or ecosystems or the Moon.”
And it is not only the import and export of pathogens between worlds that is of concern to the Commission. “Spaceflight sometimes reactivates viruses (eg, herpes, Epstein-Barr, varicella-zoster, cytomegalovirus) and increases viral shedding in astronauts. Human infection in a space-like environment could pose a significant threat to everyone on board,” he notes.
“In addition, spaceflight severely weakens astronauts’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to terrestrial and extraterrestrial diseases”.
Astro-biodefense aims to identify, characterize and manage biological threats that arise at the intersection of space exploration and infectious diseases, and the report calls on NASA and the US government to “act now to address the threats this before they give up”.
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Specifically, it calls for NASA to establish a Planetary Biodefense Board with a direct link to the White House and to authorize NASA’s Office of Planetary Protection to police and regulate pathogens in and out of space.
“We need to start developing the necessary technologies and the necessary containment protocols in advance so that we can be sure that they are not going to escape into the environment when we bring things back,” JT O’Brien, principal researcher at the Commission and public health expert, said The Telegraph.
“We need to make sure these things are in place before we start tackling the next frontier.”
NASA already ensures that no potentially harmful microbes are carried between Earth and other celestial bodies through a variety of mechanisms, including decontaminating spacecraft and testing equipment and samples, but the report says it is possible with them and that they should do more.
One suggestion is that NASA adapt its contamination laboratories to handle potentially high-risk celestial samples. After that, he hopes to import the first samples from Mars in 2033.
But, at present, even top-tier ESB 4 laboratories are not considered secure enough to handle sensitive samples from space, according to a major study published by the European Space Foundation in 2012.
Some experts think the dangers of extraterrestrial pathogens are overblown.
“The risk is quite low in my opinion, and that is because organisms are adapted to them [particular] environment,” said Gary Trubl, a microbiologist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who specializes in astrobiology.
“It’s very unlikely that we’ll bring something back, and if we did, it’s unlikely to suit us”.
But it’s not just exotic diseases that we need to worry about. Studies suggest that pathogens can become more infectious in space. Increased levels of radiation may cause viruses to mutate more frequently. At the same time, the harsh conditions in space can weaken astronauts’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to infections.
“If something from Earth went up there via a spacecraft, it could come back looking completely different,” Mr O’Brien said.
This, according to the Commission, could be a serious risk if an astronaut traveled to space with a respiratory virus, such as Covid or the flu, and then returned carrying a super-transformed version.
“The environment can make viruses much more deadly and potentially dangerous for people here on Earth,” said Mr O’Brien.
From the first manned mission to the moon, NASA has taken steps to protect crew health, and strict quarantine measures before and after space missions mean that outbreaks of disease on board are low – but still possible.
“For the Apollo missions, the standard was 21 days of quarantine – but you have to consider how many pathogens we have on Earth that take months, or even years to incubate,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kargel, senior scientist at the Institute of Science Planetary.
Although these risks may be decades in the future – or they may never materialize – the message from scientists and experts is that more research is needed to understand the impact of space travel on life. to understand the World.
Increased biodefense on NASA’s part, Mr. O’Brien emphasized, is a starting point, but not their only one. As more countries and companies invest in space travel, they must also implement stronger regulations and safeguards.
The danger of failing to do so was demonstrated in the Andromeda Strain all those years ago.
The Telegraph has contacted NASA for comment.
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