When considering human settlements on the Moon, Mars and beyond, much attention is paid to travel time, food and radiation risk.
We will undoubtedly encounter a harsh environment in deep space, and some thinkers point to genome editing as a way to ensure that humans can withstand the harsh conditions as they venture deeper into the solar system.
In January I was lucky enough to attend the much-anticipated debate between Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees and Mars exploration advocate Dr Robert Zubrin. The event at the British Interplanetary Society took up the topic of whether Mars exploration should be by humans or robots.
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 robotic spacecraft and vehicles, without the expense and risk of sending humans along for the journey. Dr. Zubrin supports human research.
Where there was some agreement was on Rees’s advocacy of using gene-editing technology to enable humans to overcome the enormous challenges of becoming an interplanetary species.
Our genome is all the DNA present in our cells. Since 2011, we can easily and accurately edit genomes. First came a molecular tool called Crispr-Cas9, which today can be used in a high school lab at very low cost and has even been used on the International Space Station.
Then came techniques called base and base editing, by which minor changes can be made to the genome of any living organism.
The potential applications of gene editing to allow us to travel further are almost limitless. One of the most troubling dangers astronauts will face in deep space is the higher dose of radiation, which can wreak havoc on many processes in the body and increase the long-term risk of cancer.
Perhaps, using genome editing, we could insert genes into humans from plants and bacteria that are able to clean up radiation in the event of radioactive and nuclear waste spills.
It sounds like science fiction, but prominent thinkers such as Lord Rees believe it is the key to our progress in the solar system.
Identifying and then inserting genes into humans that slow aging and counteract cellular breakdown could also help.
We can also create crops that are resistant to the effects of radioactivity exposure, since the crews will have to grow their own food. We can also customize medicine to an astronaut’s needs based on their specific genetic makeup.
Imagine a future where the human genome is so well understood that it has become malleable under this new, personalized medicine.
Genes for extremes
Tardigrades are microscopic animals sometimes called “water bears”. Experiments show that these tiny creatures can withstand extreme temperatures, pressure, high radiation and starvation. They can even tolerate the vacuum of space.
Geneticists are eager to understand their genomes, and a paper published in Nature seeks to uncover the key genes and proteins that give the tiny creatures this extraordinary resistance to stress.
If we can insert some of the genes involved into crops, can we make them tolerant to the highest levels of radiation and environmental stress? It’s worth exploring.
Even more intriguing is whether inserting tardigrade genes into our own genome could make us more resilient to the harsh conditions of space. Scientists have already shown that human cells in the laboratory developed an increased tolerance to X-ray radiation when tardigrade genes were inserted into them.
Gene transfer from tardigrades is just one speculative example of how we might engineer humans and cultures to be better suited for space travel.
We will need a lot more research if scientists are ever to get to that stage. In the past, however, several governments have sought to impose strict restrictions on how genome editing and other technologies are used to insert genes from one species into another.
Germany and Canada are among the most cautious, but elsewhere restrictions appear to be easing.
In November 2018, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced that he had created the first gene-edited babies. He has introduced a gene into the unborn twins that confers resistance to HIV infection.
The scientist was subsequently imprisoned. But he has since been released and allowed to conduct research again.
In the new space race, some countries may go overboard with genome editing that other nations, especially in the West where restrictions are already tight, cannot. Whoever wins will reap enormous scientific and economic benefits.
If Rees and other futurists are right, this field has the potential to accelerate our expansion into space. But society will have to agree to this.
There will likely be opposition, due to deep-seated fears of changing the human species forever. And since mainstream and mainstream editing have already improved the precision of targeted gene editing, it’s clear that technology is moving faster than talk.
One side or the other is likely to take the leap where others are pulling back from the brink. Only then will we know how viable these ideas are.
Until then, we can only speculate with curiosity and perhaps excitement.
Sam McKee, Associate Lecturer and PhD Student in Philosophy of Science, Manchester Metropolitan University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
