Genetically Enhanced Humans May Be The Future of Space Travel

When considering human settlements on the Moon, Mars and further afield, much attention is given to the travel times, food and radiation risk.

We’ll undoubtedly face a harsh environment in deep space, and some thinkers have been pointing to genome editing as a way to ensure that humans can tolerate the severe conditions as they venture further into the solar system.

In January, I was fortunate to attend a much-anticipated debate between astronomer royal Lord Martin Rees and Mars exploration advocate Dr Robert Zubrin. The event at the British Interplanetary Society took on the topic of whether the exploration of Mars should be human or robotic.

In a recent book called The End of Astronauts, Lord Rees and co-author Donald Goldsmith outline the benefits of exploration of the solar system using robotic spacecraft and vehicles, without the expense and risk of sending humans along for the ride. Dr Zubrin supports human exploration.

Where there was some agreement was over Rees’s advocacy of using gene editing technology to enable humans to overcome the immense challenges of becoming an interplanetary species.

Our genome is all the DNA present in our cells. Since 2011, we have been able to easily and accurately edit genomes. First came a molecular tool called Crispr-Cas9, which today can be used in a high school lab for very little cost and has even been used on the International Space Station.