To brave the conditions of microgravity, thin air and harsh ionizing radiation for any length of time, humans may need to borrow genes from some of the hardiest organisms on the planet, Lisa Nip, a doctoral candidate at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in a recent TED Talk.
Using the tools of synthetic biology, scientists could genetically engineer humans, and the plants and bacteria they bring with them, to create Earth-like conditions on another planet — known as terraforming, Nip said. This would be much more efficient than other proposed terraforming methods, such as hauling all of the tools to create a hermetically sealed environment, she added.
Humans are the ultimate homebodies. Having evolved for hundreds of thousands of years on our verdant, oxygen-rich, temperate planet, humans are uniquely well adapted to Earth's gentle conditions.
But space explorers will face much harsher conditions. In outer space, microgravity can weaken bones and damage the heart, and ionizing radiation can wreck DNA, she said.
Even on Mars — by far the most "hospitable" of the seven other planets in our solar system — the average temperature is about minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius), yearly rainfall is zero, the miniscule atmosphere offers no shield against solar radiation and the soil is similar to the volcanic ash in Hawaii, Nip said.
"If we were to dump any of us on Mars right this minute — even given ample food, air and water and a suit — we are likely to experience very unpleasant health problems from the ionizing radiation," she said.
======Source: Livescience.com
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