Researchers urge NASA to build Moon lab for alien microbes
An invasive species biologist and a former Pentagon strategist/microbiologist are urging NASA to set up a high-security lab on the Moon.
Their big worry? If future missions bring back alien microbes, Earth labs might not be equipped to handle them safely.
This concern isn't new: Apollo 11's astronauts were quarantined for 21 days after splashdown.
Researchers suggest automated BSL-X moon labs
Researchers Frederick Moxley and Anthony Ricciardi say space can cause microbes to mutate, sometimes making them tougher and more dangerous (like those drug-resistant bacteria found on the International Space Station).
They suggest building automated BSL-X labs on the Moon that sterilize samples robotically as needed.
As Ricciardi puts it, the Moon is a natural laboratory for studying how microbes evolve, but we have to be careful not to introduce new threats there.