For instance, consider the potential development of Mars. Although we can’t exactly take Elon Musk’s word for what the future holds, the eccentric founder has made no mystery of his goal to build an off-world base. He recently clarified his intention to “make life multiplanetary to ensure its continuance.” It’s an admirable ambition, since a stable multiplanetary community ensures a back-up copy of our planet’s life, preserving at least a fraction of the Earth’s biodiversity (including ourselves) in the event of an unexpected gamma ray burst, asteroid impact, or catastrophic orbital shift. And though it’s far from certain that any of these world-killer scenarios will happen in the near future, fortune favors those who prepare for all eventualities.
At the same time, moving too quickly toward extraterrestrial bases might prove disastrous to scientific understanding of new worlds. For instance, if we accidentally introduce biological contamination to another planet, it may jeopardize our chances of learning how life first evolved there.
Recent work has also
unearthed a Deep Biosphere on Earth, stretching thousands of feet below the surface. Here, microbes grow slowly fueled by chemoelectical reactions between simple compounds like hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The metabolic structures of bacteria that thrive in these depths are so ancient, in fact, that some have come to the conclusion that they might be echoes of the earliest life on Earth, a window into the deep past.
The discovery of a terrestrial deep biosphere, almost entirely isolated from surface conditions, has led some scientists to fan the flames of theory of extraterrestial life once more. What if there’s something more than just traces of former life on Mars? What if, deep beneath the surface are the survivors of an ancient martian biosphere? It’s a tantalizing thought, one that could help answer a looming question on the origins of life: Did it evolve on Earth and migrate to other worlds? Or is there a second tree of life, started from unique circumstances on Mars?
The risk if industrial progress unfolds unchecked is that finding an answer may get indefinitely delayed. Any kind of base either on the surface of Mars or the surface of the Moon — especially if we were to drill down into the depths to search for resources such as hydrogen, carbon, and water — would run the risk of creating an inadvertent meeting between two planetary biospheres, potentially obscuring their distinct histories. Worst case scenario, this could jeopardize the existence of either or both trees of life. And at the very least, irreparable damage to priceless specimens or fossils could occur.
Saving space science
Luckily, the best minds of our generation are already wrestling with the necessity of preserving off-world sites for scientific study. Joalda Morancy, an early career Astronomy and Geophysics student at the University of Chicago and national director of operations for the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, suggests that a formal system of accountability between technologists and scientists may prove necessary. Morancy points out that “an effective space treaty would require a robust system of checks and balances that prevents unethical behavior.”
Given the international hurdles of space development, a comprehensive space treaty would need to be agreed upon by the countries of the world before moving forward with space mining and other cosmic industries. And such an agreement’s bar and scope would need to be set higher than previous attempts.
There is some precedent for international treaties regarding the exploration of other worlds, most-notably the
Outer Space Treaty of 1976 or the
Artemis Accords. But these amount to little more than non-aggression pacts.
The COSPAR convention came closer to what is needed by declaring the inherent hazards to science and terrestrial life that go with exploring other worlds. However, at present, such documents merely recommendations to governments and industry. There are no current means for enforcing the guidelines.
Although a modern and wide-ranging new space treaty seems a necessity, Morancy also cautions that space exploration will not solve the problems of science denialism, systemic racism, and political cleavages that plague us on Earth. However, many remain optimistic that finding common ground between science and industry will allow humanity to grow and develop as whole.
As NASA’s Chief Historian Stephen J. Dick, suggests, “we should undertake [exploration] for the most basic of reasons — our self-preservation as a creative, as opposed to a stagnating, society.” In this way, space exploration allows us to realize a democratic future where multipolar interests steer the car down a road that has yet to be claimed. But the question of how to get disparate, competing groups to cooperate remains unanswered.
Space for the greater good
There is some hope that because industry has historically depended upon science, it will protect it as an institution. And yet, the past has shown that such scientific protection is often penetrated by outside influence.
Dennis Wingo, CEO of Skycorp Inc, points out that this burgeoning space rush represents a sea change from how space exploration traditionally has been done. For many years now, “science has had the dominant voice at the table. The budgets are decided at NASA, by scientists, the peer review committees, the decadal surveys are all science driven.” But as private industry comes to the forefront, the model will likely follow that of terrestrial mining companies that rely on staff scientists for impact studies. This could present a conflict of interest in scientific objectivity.
However, Wingo is not worried, believing that there is a scientist in every engineer. Growing up in a mining area, Wingo learned firsthand that there is a close relationship between industrial processes and discovery, having found his first trilobite by looking at a slag dump outside a local mine. His bottom line is that it’s necessary to “work together to find a consensus that’s good for everybody. And at the same time, we have to consider that if we want to look at the overall health of our biosphere, and also maintain this life form called humans, we need to go out there and explore.”
