Space Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Terraforming: Rethinking the Paradigm of Harmful Contamination

As humanity transitions from sporadic exploratory space missions to permanent settlements on celestial bodies (like the Moon or Mars), agriculture biotechnology, and, potentially, terraforming projects will be essential for establishing self-sustaining settlements. These activities raise critical issues concerning the interpretation of the principle of harmful contamination under Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) and its implementation through the Committee on Space Research’s Policy on Planetary Protection (COSPAR Policy) referred together in this article as the “Planetary Protection Framework,” which is primarily oriented toward exploration with scientific integrity rather than permanent habitation. The challenge lies in the fact that agriculture, biotechnology, and terraforming inherently involve the introduction and manipulation of biological systems—such as plants, microbes, and other organisms—to create habitable conditions, produce food, and support life. Conversely, the existing Planetary Protection Framework prioritizes preventing biological contamination of extraterrestrial environments, particularly to preserve their scientific integrity, over the practical needs of long-term habitation. This paper examines the tension between the current Planetary Protection Framework and the practical requirements of the activities essential for permanent habitation, for which the current Framework risks becoming a significant impediment. At the heart of this discussion lies a critical question: can planetary protection principles evolve to balance the need for scientific preservation with the demands of human settlement? This paper discusses the situation in the long term, when a paradigm shift from planetary protection to an environmental protection framework like on Earth is envisioned, and the situation in the short and middle term, for which this paper advocates an evolution in the interpretation of Article IX OST and a modification of the COSPAR Policy, either by amending the Policy itself or through a modified reception in national regulation. This new approach—which recognizes settlement zones as the default and scientific zones as the exception—accepts biological contamination as a necessary and inevitable consequence of humanity’s aspirations for a multi-planetary future, provided that such contamination remains sustainable.