Submitted by Creepy_Toe2680 t3_10ozjk9 in space
qa2fwzell t1_j6ipmm7 wrote
Shame anything earth-like is hundreds of lightyears away :/
cjameshuff t1_j6j2cwu wrote
Realistically, anything Earth-like would likely be uninhabitable. Aside from the forward and backward contamination issues, an entirely alien biosphere wouldn't contain any diseases or poisons adapted to us, but would be saturated with things that are moderately to severely toxic or just noxious, and complex organic substances that our immune systems have never encountered before, some of which would be likely to cause severe allergic reactions.
In short, it'd probably stink horribly and send you into anaphylactic shock, and if it didn't, it'd probably have environmental toxins that would kill you slowly. Habitable environments are those with the natural resources needed to support habitats where we can support Earth life, not those already filled with alien life.
Mars? Oh no, perchlorates! Yeah, about 0.5-1% of the regolith consists of salts twice as toxic as table salt that are unstable, easily washed out with water or decomposed by heat or reducing agents, and which do not bioaccumulate. Worry more about heavy metals and long-lived organic compounds leaching out of plastics and such.
Who_DaFuc_Asked t1_j6j9e2h wrote
I was about to say, if you tried breathing on a habitable planet you'd probably inhale some super toxic or deadly stuff almost immediately. You would 100% need an extremely reliable and high quality filter to make the air safe to breathe even if it's the same composition as on Earth.
Multiple generations of humans would need to gradually develop immunity to the planet's natural threats, unless we could make some insane tech to compensate for it
steveoscaro t1_j6jtu2o wrote
This is the type of comment I love to read
[deleted] t1_j6loivl wrote
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