I had pointed out similar concerns a few days ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42051857
At this point it’s more an experiment on the limitations that these creatures can be pushed to in the Lunar environment.
At this point it’s more an experiment on the limitations that these creatures can be pushed to in the Lunar environment.
It may spread life to other planets and systems, and this would mean that life has higher chance of survival no matter if humans are here or not.
If we look over the next 10 thousand years, we have more chances to have the planet survivability highly affected by a nuclear war, than to have tardigrades secretly building a spaceship and attacking us back in Space Wars style.
It's great if plants and animals spread to other planets, those who can survive will survive, and the others may mutate or adapt.
In the long-term, contamination is going to happen anyway due to humans planning to live there.
The concern is they'll make it harder to detect potential life on other planets (because of false positives) or even that they'll destroy alien life if it exists.