The viral frontier: Nasa told ‘act now’ to tackle pathogens in space

Forget little green men – it’s not aliens or UFOs that pose the greatest risk, but biological threats in the cosmos

Maeve Cullinan, Global Health Security Reporter and Lilia Sebouai 4 June 2024 • 9:35am

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/nasa-told-act-now-to-tackle-biological-threats-from-space/

In a quiet pocket of rural Arizona, hundreds of people die after suffering near-instantaneous blood clots.  Some perish mid-stride, while others go “quietly nuts” before killing themselves, often bizarrely.

The cause, it turns out, is a satellite that has crashed, bringing with it a deadly pathogen from space. A crack group of scientists from the US Air Force’s “wildfire” team race to stop the extraterrestrial contagion – and prevent a global meltdown. 

That’s the plot of The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton’s science fiction bestseller published in 1969. Now more than 50 years later, US politicians and disaster planners are taking the plot a whole lot more seriously.

As humanity pushes ever further into the cosmos and flights to and from space become routine, a new report from the US Bipartisan Commission on Biodefence has urged governments worldwide to “act now to address the biological threats emerging at the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease.” 

Forget the little green men of Hollywood folklore. It’s not aliens or UFOs that pose the greatest risk, says the Commision, but microorganisms and the rigours of space travel. That, plus the non entirely fanciful use of biological weapons in space.

A human infection in a space-like environment could pose a significant threat to everyone on board CREDIT: Andrey Armyagov/Alamy Stock Photo

“Human exploration of the solar system and beyond continues, and with that exploration, biological risk increases,” say the Commission’s authors in their May 2024 National Blueprint for Biodefense.

“Probes or humans visiting extraterrestrial environments must not introduce organisms from Earth into those environments. Conversely, they also must ensure that they do not bring back any extraterrestrial or mutated terrestrial microbes that could pose a threat to Earth’s human, animal, plant, or ecosystem health or the Moon.”

And it is not just the import and export of pathogens between worlds that the Commission is worried about. “Spaceflight sometimes reactivates viruses (e.g., herpes, Epstein-Barr, varicella-zoster, cytomegalovirus) and increases viral shedding in astronauts. A human infection in a space-like environment could pose a significant threat to everyone on board,” it notes.

 “Additionally, spaceflight severely weakens the immune systems of astronauts, making them more susceptible to terrestrial and extraterrestrial diseases”. 

Astro-biodefense aims to identify, characterise, and manage biological threats emerging at the intersection of space exploration and infectious disease, and the report calls on Nasa and the US government to “act now to address these threats before they materialise ‘’.

Celestial contamination labs

Specifically, it calls on Nasa to establish a Planetary Biodefense Board with a direct link to the White House and to authorise the Nasa Office of Planetary Protection to police and regulate the to and fro of pathogens in space.

“We need to start developing the necessary technologies and containment protocols in advance so that when we do bring things back, we can be sure they’re not going to escape into the environment,” JT O’Brien, principal researcher at the Commission and public health expert, told The Telegraph. 

“We need to make sure these things are in place before we start tackling this next frontier.” 

Nasa already ensures that no potentially harmful microbes are transported between Earth and other celestial bodies through various mechanisms, including decontamination of spacecraft and testing of equipment and samples but the report says that they “can and should do more.”  

One recommendation is for Nasa to adapt its contamination labs to be able to cope with potentially high-risk celestial samples. Afterall, it expects to import the first samples from Mars in 2033.

But, currently, even top tier BSL 4 laboratories aren’t deemed secure enough to handle delicate samples from space, according to a major study published by the European Space Foundation in 2012. 

Some experts think the dangers posed by extra-terrestrial pathogens are overblown. 

“The risk is quite low In my opinion, and that’s because organisms are adapted to their [particular] environment,” said Gary Trubl, a microbiologist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who specialises in astrobiology. 

“There’s a very small chance of us bringing something back, and if we did, the likelihood it could adapt to us is unlikely”. 

But it’s not just alien diseases we need to worry about. Studies suggest pathogens can become more infectious in space.  Increased radiation levels may cause viruses to mutate more frequently. At the same time, the harsh conditions in space can weaken astronauts’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to infections.

“If something from Earth went up there via spacecraft, it could come back looking totally different,” said Mr O’Brien. 

This, notes the Commision, could be a serious risk if an astronaut travelled to space with a respiratory virus, like Covid or influenza, and then returned carrying a super-mutated version. 

“The environment can make viruses much more lethal and potentially dangerous to folks here on Earth,” Mr O’Brien said.

Since the first manned mission to the moon, Nasa has taken steps to protect the health of crew members, and strict quarantine measures both before and after space missions make a disease outbreak onboard low – but it’s still a possibility. 

“For the Apollo missions, the standard was 21 days of quarantine – but you have to consider how many pathogens we have on Earth that take months, or even years of incubation,” said Dr Jeffrey Kargel, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. 

Although these risks might be decades into the future – or perhaps never materialise – the message from scientists and experts is that more research is needed to understand the impact of space travel on life on Earth. 

Increased biodefense on Nasa’s part is a starting point, Mr O’Brien stressed, but it’s not just them. As more and more countries and companies invest in space travel, they too need to put stronger regulations and protections in place.

The danger if we fail to do so was spelt out in the Andromeda Strain all those years ago.

The Telegraph has contacted Nasa for comment. 

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