Deadly solar flares.
Planet-destroying asteroid strikes.
Or a hostile alien takeover.
These might be what comes to mind
when you think of
the most dangerous threats
to Earth from outer space.
But the biggest threat could be
microscopically small.
There are somewhere
between 100-200 billion galaxies
in the observable Universe.
While we haven’t discovered
life on another planet just yet,
there is a staggering
number of worlds
where it could exist
if the conditions were just right.
And that’s why NASA and other space agencies
take the potential contamination between
our world and other planets very seriously.
I mean, after all,
the last thing we want to do
is discover life among the stars,
only to find that we put it there.
Scientists call this forward contamination.
Terrestrial microscopic organisms
from our world
could arrive on other planets,
moons or asteroids
by catching a ride on equipment
that someone didn’t clean thoroughly.
If it’s a mission to Mars
or Jupiter’s moon Europa,
where conditions for life
are theoretically possible,
contamination protocols get even stricter.
But another form of contamination
is possible.
Backward contamination.
We could unknowingly
bring back extra-terrestrial microbes
from space.
Or these lifeforms
could spread across the Universe naturally,
hitching rides on meteoroids, comets
or even space dust.
This theory, known as panspermia,
might even explain
how life traveled the Universe
and arrived on Earth
in the first place.
But where life can go,
it can also destroy.
While we could face
deadly exposure
in the vast expanse of space,
there's another kind
of dangerous exposure out there,
online.
Yeah.
The other day, I was Googling my own name
because that's what I do.
And I came across
some pictures of myself,
some stuff from What If,
and then a bunch of information
about myself
and my family
that probably shouldn't be out there.
You know,
it's unnerving to see your private life
out there for anyone to find.
And I know I'm not alone
because data brokers
are profiting from your data,
selling it to robocallers, spammers,
pretty much anyone who's buying it.
But you have the power
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You know, with Aura,
you can safely navigate
the digital world.
Too bad there's no such service
for navigating in space.
When Elon Musk
sent his Tesla into space,
it’s likely
he wasn’t taking the best protection measures
against interplanetary contamination.
And as more and more
commercial space launches happen,
that could become the norm.
The reality is
that it would be nearly impossible
not to contaminanate space.
It’s already too late.
Take, for example,
a privately-launched
Israeli lunar lander
that crashed on the Moon in 2019.
It was carrying
thousands of microscopic
organisms called tardigrades.
They’re known to be able
to withstand extreme conditions like
freezing temperatures
and high radiation.
They could be up there
on the Moon,
plotting their revenge right now!
Some microorganisms
can grow and evolve
in microgravity
or in conditions
similar to the Martian permafrost.
That means we ned to take
every precaution
to avoid forward contamination.
And before you ask me what
any of this has to do
with destroying life on Earth,
just wait.
Things are about to get dangerous.
But first,
how do we avoid this forward contamination?
Well,
we should start with
rigorous chemical cleaning
and heat sterilization
to kill any life
on the outside of our spaceships.
Just make sure you step
far away from this process.
And as we envision
human-crewed missions to Mars,
we should set up strict policies about
where we can land and explore
long before we go there.
We should establish
exploration zones
where we could contaminate
in a controlled manner.
Then, we’d apply
stricter precautionary measures
before we explored
other parts of the red planet.
But it’s not forward contamination
that should scare you.
In these outer space missions,
we could accidentally pick up
extra-terrestrial life
and bring it back to Earth.
These microbes entering
our biosphere
could pose existential threats
to all kinds of organisms.
Ourselves included.
Finding life on Mars,
either fossilized or alive,
seems pretty slim.
But it’s possible
that lifeforms could survive
in the water-rich
spots on the planet.
These Martian organisms
may have the same
biological origin as life on Earth.
Now that sounds cool,
but that’s what would make them dangerous.
Because it’s more likely
that these extra-terrestrial microbes
would find Earth
to be a hospitable new home.
If this was the case, there’s
a chance that these invasive
space microbes
might slowly
take over our blue marble.
They could force
many species of plants
and animals into extinction.
Humans, too.
And that’s because
they could be pathogens.
Those are organisms
like parasites,
fungi or viruses,
and they need a host
to do their thing.
A host like you.
And because these parasites are
out of this world,
they could be resistant
to your immune system’s responses.
They’d quietly replicate
and spread inside your body.
Until they were ready to come out.
One day, you’d cough up
a yellow mucus.
Maybe an oxygen-loving mucus
that would start growing
and spreading all around you.
This alien monstrosity
could grow as fast as 1 m (3 ft) in one day.
Soon, it might develop a fruiting body
with deadly spores inside of it.
Eventually, this thing
would burst open,
releasing thousands of spores.
Now, this would be one thing
if it happened in an isolated lab,
but if this monstrosity
exploded outside in the open,
well, there’s nothing we could do
to stop alien spores
from spreading
and infecting everything
in their way.
That’s game over for Earth.
Better to eradicate
these microbes quickly
before they could wipe us out.
And that’s why we need
strict rules and protocols
for returning spacecraft,
their crew and
any potential
biological samples they may carry.
In past Apollo missions,
astronauts were quarantined for 30 days
after returning to Earth.
And all the lunar samples
they brought
were subjected
to extensive life-detection
and biohazard protocols.
If you were transporting
samples from Mars,
you should assume they are dangerous
until it’s clear they’re not.
That means proper containment.
And that containment
should stay intact
throughout your spacecraft’s travel,
re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere
and delivery to quarantine facilities.
You should only distribute the samples
once scientists have proven
that they don’t contain
any biological life.
If there’s even a slight uncertainty
that the samples weren’t
properly contained,
well, they and the entire spacecraft
must be sterilized
while still in space.
And if there’s still doubt?
Well, sorry,
your spaceship could never return to Earth.
Yeah, you should turn around
and get ready
to settle down
on Mars permanently.
But that’s a story for another WHAT IF.