This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Microbes from space have fueled the plots of science fiction mainstays like "Project Hail Mary" and "The Andromeda Strain." But with more space missions launching each year, finding extraterrestrial life in a microbial form is becoming more plausible. What will the response be back here on Earth if—or when—scientists discover extraterrestrial microbes?
Will the international policy and security communities be prepared for the fallout? When you hear about extraterrestrial life, your mind may go to intelligent life, like the kind present in a lot of Hollywood science fiction. But even the confirmation of microbial life that originated somewhere other than on Earth—which is much more likely—would be a paradigm-shifting event.
Thinking about what these consequences might look like early on can help nations and the international community prepare. Our team is interested in this question. We include a full professor of international affairs who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry and whose expertise is on how emerging science and technologies could affect global conflict and cooperation, as well as an emerging scholar in space policy and security and an expert on social and political implications of frontier technologies, such as AI, space, quantum and energy sources.
Multiple Mars landers have identified large amounts of frozen and liquid water, essential for life, on the red planet. Samples retrieved by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft from a near-Earth asteroid revealed the presence of uracil, part of RNA, which is a building block of life. Uncrewed space probes like NASA's Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer are on their way to conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moons and investigate whether they have conditions suitable for life.
Along with data from the James Webb Space Telescope and future missions targeting Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, the likelihood of discovering extraterrestrial microbial life has increased substantially. The discovery of microbial life would expose significant gaps in international governance related to space. While there are some existing international agreements, including the Outer Space Treaty, that provide space law guidelines, they are ill-equipped to address the complexities posed by extraterrestrial biology.
The Outer Space Treaty, established in 1967, dictates that countries should use outer space peacefully. It also states that no single nation may claim ownership or exert sovereignty over parts of outer space or celestial bodies such as the moon. However, it doesn't have much to say about who can own extraterrestrial organisms or what to do about biosecurity risks.
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