The cosmic environment will create new races

Imagine one day we encounter aliens, and they are our descendants.

New people in the cosmic environment?

At this point, an extraterrestrial society sounds like a science fiction concept . We all spend our whole lives on Earth, attached and inseparable from our planet. In the past half century, only less than 600 people left the ground with trips to Earth's low orbit, 12 of them actually set foot on another world: the Moon . The huge cost and the solution to the problem of gravity in space put travels in difficulty. However, that seems to be becoming the past.

Aliens are always the subject of attracting scientists around the world.

In the near future

People like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are pushing the process of entering humanity's space with bold projects on reusable boosters. Richard Branson says he hopes this will be a viable model of future space travel.Hotelier Robert Bigelow wants that later someone can choose to spend his 10-year vacation without being on the ground. On the governments side, they are also strengthening projects to explore the Moon and Mars. NASA intends to bring people to Mars by 2035, China also targets a similar timeline for a space station in orbit and a base on the Moon.

All these plans are driven by a series of technological advances. New materials allow rockets to be lighter, stronger and cheaper. The equipment will be built using 3D printing technology on the ISS space station . Moon's or Mars's land can completely become construction materials and we are also developing technologies to exploit the resources available out of the Earth, turning them into water and oxygen.

There was even a project about building a space elevator on the Moon . A super-strong cable goes straight from the surface of the Moon to the sky and with the weight at the other end will cause the elevator to float in space. The elevator opens a solution for transporting cargo from space to the surface of the planets. That will bring about cost savings and open up many exploration activities in the solar system. Soon, a brave crew will venture on a train beyond the interstellar distance to find a primitive world and settle there.

The first transformations were revealed

Suppose these things happen within the next 50 years. We can imagine the first child born out of Earth as well as the humanity leaving Africa 60,000 years ago. How will the environment outside the Earth change humans?

Some astronauts spend more than a year out of orbit with zero gravity showing some changes. Their bones become more brittle and their vision deteriorates. When living on Moon bases or Mars this could be improved because gravity is only reduced and not lost. However, the cardiovascular system of astronauts will still change and muscle mass will decrease.

Another base on the planet will be an isolated world, astronauts will only live in houses without an surrounding ecosystem . This leads to a decline in the immune system. However, they can still improve this with proper living and fitness regimes.

Optimizing genetic structure and countering Darwin's rules

In a further perspective, when a planet has become a human colony, the "physiology" of our " remains " unchanged. Dissenting political opinions or a political idea will make the connection to the Earth completely cut off. Then, biologically, the inhabitants here will grow and become a branch of our descendants.

So what would they be like if they were no longer one of us?

Colonial residents can optimize their genetic structure and counter Darwin's rules - (Artwork)

Such a colony wants to avoid genetic mutations and the effect of inbreeding must have a community of at least 160 people. Even so, residents will still suffer from two common effects, like the small quarantine populations on Earth that are the founding and drifting effect. These effects create genetic changes and affect their appearance. Evolution is also strongly motivated by cosmic rays through the atmosphere. Small genetic variations go hand in hand with poor adaptation to new pressures of natural selection. As a result, the colonial inhabitants were easily damaged by the pathogens, they could completely be eradicated.

However, they still have opportunities for themselves. That's because DNA editing technology is rapidly developing today. Colonial residents can optimize their genetic structure and oppose Darwin's rules. Advanced medical technology and proper nutrition can extend the lifespan of everyone, not just healthy individuals.

When barriers are broken

Leaving Earth , taking over a planet and those people will no longer be citizens of any country. They can start building up new ethical principles and laws. Technologies that are being restrained by moral-related nations can explode in other planets. Think of merging people and machines as one. That may be an option for colonial residents to resist their harsh nature. The physical limits of human abilities can be overwhelmed.

Finally, the assumptions will lead us to an interesting fantasy. Suppose that the people have gone and after hundreds of generations, their descendants find their way back. We will call our descendants when we cannot understand language and recognize their culture. Facing them may be like we are looking at a weird mirror.