Are we ready for life in space? Some would say that the pandemic prepares us for life in Mars. The aspect of isolation is now a fact of life as we struggle amidst a virus attack and we practically hide in the safety of our homes.
Spacesuits and PPE
These days, the most pressing thing that many people are dealing with is how to protect themselves from the threat of coronavirus.We now wear masks and medical staff even wear personal protective equipment (PPE) that is no different than a spacesuit. Just like a spacesuit, a full-body PPE which also serves as an anti-COVID-19 paraphernalia, also limits our movements.
Just imagine doing all this 24/7 and living in small spaces, with few options for leisure. This is our current reality in lockdown, but on the bright side, the pandemic won't last forever and we still have the chance to resume to our normal routines.
But terraforming Mars and living on long space voyages are similar.
Essentially, any outer space mission is a germophobic process of eliminating any chance of pathogens, whether Terran origin or from space. Austronauts who are living Earth must learn to sanitize themselves and their suits, in order to avoid bringing bacteria from Earth to Mars, that may cause confusion in false positive life on the planet.
There are several things that we need to do when it is time to leave terra-firma. This is what the COSPAR, the global Committee on Space Research is for and they've done a lot since 1958 until now.
COSPAR's mission is to "Further research, exploration and the peaceful use of outer space through international cooperation," according to the COSPAR mission statement.
COVID-19's crash course in living on Mars
Keeping an environment pristine and pathogen-free is almost the same as living on Mars, except it is a matter of life or death. Lastly, Mars is a new frontier for mankind and we do not want to let lose anything similar to the coronavirus, or any of its infective kind.
Space pioneers should not carry bacteria or any pathogens that can infect the alien planet.
The current pandemic has been found to infect other animals too, meaning if there are similar pathogens able to hitch a ride it means we'll have a domino effect on our second home. Plus, it goes the same for Mars and keeping all samples under quarantine, because alien pathogen might be harder to kill than COVID-19.
It might be overlooked, but astronauts may be considered as biohazards, and we do it now with social distancing, self-isolation, and quarantine.
Consider how the earth was before pathogens and other living matter, if any astronaut or Martian colonist steps out of the ship. That is what we are; carriers of pathogens and biomass if we faily to scrub everything that can hold contamination. Even our breath can be dangerous.
In the Apollo program, there was an unprecedented level of quarantine, decontamination, and keeping germs with viral pathogens away. At this stage, keeping biohazard like infectious astronauts/Mars colonists germ and pathogen-free is more important than ever.
Mars, in circumspect, is a management hazard that is full of unknown threats to future colonists. Exotic material, small bits of meteors, are among many things just waiting to kill off unprepared Mars colonists.
Before the pandemic came, we were just theorizing but with coronavirus, this is our reality now. All this experience prepares us for life on Mars. Ready to go soon?
