Elon Musk, the famous entrepreneur, businessman, and to an extent visionary is continuously giving us surprises lately. The Tesla Roadster became the first car to be ever put in space. So what does this signify?. It can mean any things, one of which is that we now have the capability to send car sized objects to space after the Saturn V rocket, which is now not active. It means we can fabricate similarly sized living pods or modules and send them to extraterrestrial missions. But it does also mean another thing.

Spacecrafts that are to be sent to other planets are put through a sterilization process by which every trace of life is wiped away from it. The US's Office of Planetary Protection does exactly that. But it didn't in the case of the Tesla. Because it was never supposed to land on any planets, it was deemed not necessary.

Why does this matter?. The Tesla or any other spacecraft without sterilization, contains a potent housing of millions of microorganisms found on earth. No car is ever made using sterile components. Therefore if it ever lands on any planet which offers conditions suitable for some of the microorganisms, they will start multiplying. If and only if there is life preexisting on the planet, we don't know what effects the introduction of earthly life will have on the indigenous population. The car might not land on any planet for millions of years, but it also can deviate its path anytime due to some random circumstances. During that time frame, the microorganisms can stay dormant until they find a suitable environment to thrive in.

If the earthly life takes over the ecosystem, then they might develop in ways we are not familiar with. Will that evolve into alien life?, we don't know. Let us not think to that extreme. But it is fun to think, isn't it?