Scott Powers
Might there be microbial life in space that could that cause a threat to Earth, as once dramatically depicted in Michael Crichton‘s 1969 science fiction novel and the blockbuster 1971 movie “The Andromeda Strain?”
Without suggesting anything in quite such dramatic terms as that sci-fi story’s plot, a White House space office on Wednesday announced the development of policies and protocols to prepare for just such a prospect tied to America’s space flight programs.
In announcing the “National Strategy for Planetary Protection” Wednesday, the National Space Council essentially conceded the prospect of life in space.
The policy statement declares, as one of its objectives, “to protect against adverse effects on the Earth environment due to the potential return of extraterrestrial life.”
There have been plenty of scientific reports in recent years, based on observations of Mars, Venus, the Moon and elsewhere, and analysis of meteorites, to support the possibility. More recent studies have found that some Earth microbes can survive in space. But the notion of extraterrestrial life has long been a third rail in politics, anathema to many religious doctrines.
The National Space Council is a White House advisory panel chaired by Vice President Mike Pence.
The new federal space strategy, as outlined Wednesday, has two primary goals: to prevent transporting Earth germs to other heavenly bodies like Mars and thereby causing so-called “forward contamination;” and to prevent transporting alien germs home to Earth from heavenly bodies, causing so called “backward contamination.”
The outline mentions some good and simple research reasons for such a policy. Chief among them: contaminating another planet with Earth germs or contaminating Earth with out-of-this-world germs can botch scientific experiments. Think of the wasted resources, time, effort, and money if samples have to be tossed.
But the outline also cites the prospect of “adverse effects on the Earth environment due to the potential return of extraterrestrial life.”
In “Andromeda Strain,” a returning satellite delivered a space contagion that was so dangerous and infectious that it threatened mankind.
The new National Strategy for Planetary Protection is being developed for the National Space Council by the Interagency Working Group on Planetary Protection. That group is chaired by Chris Beauregard, a policy advisor with the National Space Council, and Navy Capt. Michael Schmoyer, a national security advisor to the Secretary of Health & Human Services.
“The United States has made amazing strides in space exploration and with these great strides comes a responsibility to protect Earth and other planetary bodies from biological contamination,” Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, stated in a news release issued by the National Space Council.
The strategy also talks about America developing practices not just for U.S. missions, but to be shared, so “commercial and international partners will ensure safety, sustainability, and predictability in space for the benefit of all humankind.”
