Adapting Human Biology for Space: Is Gene Editing the Future of Space Exploration?
Credit: Central Recorder / Getty
Elon Musk has been vocal about his plans to colonise Mars in the 2050s – and is currently test launching the rocket for the job. But if humans want to do that, we may need people to volunteer themselves to become genetically modified astronauts, argues Usov. “We want to thrive in space. not just survive for several weeks,” he tells Central Recorder. While the future Usov describes feels plucked out of a sci-fi novel, or ripped from the pages of the next space-bound blockbuster, he’s serious. “We need to figure out how to actually build a society [in space], starting with a small one and then growing,” he continues. “Because here on Earth, what we are today, is a result of millions of years of evolution and connection to a particular environment on this planet that was really favourable for some weird reason. “On Mars or any other place in the universe, from what I know, it’s not as favourable as what it is here on Earth.”
Preparing for Challenges: The Need for Genetic Modification
“It’s an issue… we need to address, otherwise we wont be able to expand beyond earth, ever.” While Musk and his billionaire posse build the transport, Usov reckons private industry and scientists should be investing more in adapting human biology for space. If we don’t, he says, long-term space travel will be practically impossible.
What humans require is a speed-run at evolution – or gene editing. “We need to adapt really fast and without having technology helping us with this adaptation, I don’t think it can actually happen,” says Usov. “Because if you bring the community to Mars… they cannot walk around, cannot communicate properly, cannot have a family… society how we see it now is impossible unless we adapt our biology for the new environment.”
**Surviving in Space: The Biological Challenges Ahead**
Think life on Earth is hard? Living in space will be infinitely harder. Humans will face much higher cancer risks due to radiation, alongside ruptured lungs and dangerously swollen skin from the low Martian air pressure. And that’s just the Red Planet in our solar system, the unique challenges posed by other worlds will require entirely different adaptations for survival. “It’s not only one way we need to change ourselves for space,” explains Usov, “because every environment, every planet, every new star system, will have its own conditions, and we need to have a plan to adapt to this particular environment. “For our evolution, natural selection works perfectly fine… but if we’re talking about this absolutely new environment, it’ll be hard to go just under natural selection, because this requires millions of years and large populations. “In space we will have none of them. “It’s an issue… we need to address otherwise we wont be able to expand beyond earth, ever.”
If you can help people and save lives, and you’re not doing that, then that is unethical.
Volodymyr Usov, former chairman of Ukraine’s national space agency
Usov suggests our biological weaknesses can be “fixed” with gene editing, which changes genes that make life on a particular planet un-survivable. Gene editing adds, removes and changes DNA inside the genome, and is of great interest to tackling diseases.
The Ethics of Genetic Modification in Space
The chances of survival for a skydiver without a parachute are slim, but they’re not zero. Giving gene editing the green light would be an astronaut’s parachute when living off-planet, according to Usov, who is alive to the negative reactions people have towards genetic modification. “I’m sure the majority of people will react negatively, as they react to any radical innovation,” he says. “If you have the technology in hand that can actually increase your chance of survival, increase your chance of having a better life in a different type of environment, to not do this is actually unethical. “If you can help people and save lives, and you’re not doing that, then that is unethical.”
Future Outlook: A New Era of Space Exploration
Usov points to today’s working astronauts, who – like athletes and entertainers – have naturally enhanced levels of the abilities that make them fit for the job. They are already the result of genetic selection, he says, which is fine for those being ferried to and from the ISS but won’t be enough for off-planet society building. “If we’re talking about the colonies where there’s thousands of people, of course, we wouldn’t be able to get the people with all of those genomes in such big amounts,” Usov explains. “That’s why we’d have to get average, ordinary people to adapt their genomes to create the new traits that will help them to survive [off Earth].” Should this vision of the future pan out, humans may one day be able to live long and happy lives on Mars – and on more distant worlds. But whether these people will be called ‘human’ – or even want to identify as such – is a cultural mystery waiting to unfold.