Are there diseases in space?

Space missions are searching for evidence of extra-terrestrial life. CrowdScience listener George in Kenya wants to know what could be up there, and if there’s a risk it could harm humanity.

With rovers currently analysing samples on Mars, missions searching for the building blocks of life on Jupiter’s icy moons, George’s concern that there could be diseases in space is timely. Presenter Anand Jagatia sets out to try and find an answer while keeping his feet on the Earth.

He meets astrobiologist Dr Michaela Musilova, who runs experiments to try and understand what kinds of microbes could survive on other planets. In her work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she recreates Mars-like environments that test lifeforms’ resilience to the rigours of the Red Planet.

And if there are harmful pathogens in space, how do we make sure these missions don't bring them back to Earth? Anand talks to ‘planetary protection officer’ Silvio Sinibaldi from the European Space Agency, who explains what experts are doing to protect us. He helps Anand get suited and booted in specialist clothing so they can enter a highly sterile environment called a ‘clean room’, where things being sent to space are built.

He also meets Paul Meacham, former chief engineer on the Rosalind Franklin Rover. The rover is being sent to Mars to try to determine whether life ever existed there, and even whether it still does.

Paul shows us around the Airbus Defence and Space site where his team built the rover and explains high-tech measures to avoid contamination.

And what would a programme on space be without an astronaut? Anand meets Kate Rubins, who spent 300 days on the International Space Station. While she was there, she ran experiments investigating what happens to microbes in space. It turns out that microbes affect humans differently in orbit to how they affect us on Earth.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Tom Bonnett

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo : 3D render of the Coronavirus Covid-19 floating in the air with astronaut wearing space suit. - stock photo- Credit: Artur Debat via Getty Images)