Humanity stands at the threshold of one of its most consequential discoveries — not merely a scientific one, but a civilizational test. As robotic emissaries probe the oceans of Europa, the sands of Mars, and the debris of ancient asteroids, the possibility of finding microbial life beyond Earth has shifted from speculation to probability. Yet the legal and diplomatic architecture built to govern such a moment remains anchored in a 1967 treaty that could not have imagined it, leaving the world's nations — cooperative, competitive, or fearful — without a shared map for what comes next.