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The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

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Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#21

Post by tonyarkles »

bb88 wrote: post #18
orbital-decay wrote: post #14

There's also another similar long-term experiment being performed on the International Space Station [0]. It's not finished yet but apparently preliminary results [1] suggest that microorganisms can possibly be lifted into the upper atmosphere from the oceans somehow. They found different planktonic species from all over the world on the outer surface of the space station, which is hard to explain by spacecraft conta…

An armchair explanation might be that a hurricane or tornado might be able to do this. Water spouts have scooped up fish into the sky only to dump them on land hundreds of miles from shore. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254812/Hundreds-fi...

In Ben Rich's book about the Skunkworks, one of the aircraft (U2? SR71?) was encountering high-altitude insect impacts on their windshields. Turns out they'd been lofted up there by nuclear tests.

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#22

Post by Retric »

delecti wrote: post #13
wwwtyro wrote: post #4

"The research touches on this, and it warns astronauts to follow recommended planetary protection protocols designed to prevent visiting spacecraft from contaminating other planets and moons in our solar system with microorganisms from Earth. The study suggests that, because of the risk of contamination, these fungal spores may need to be considered a more serious threat." This makes me wonder if we've accidentally a…

I'm more excited by the prospect that we've started terraforming Venus. It has an atmosphere, and with a lot of CO2. Wouldn't take many surviving plant microbes on one of the probes we've sent to start things off. Get the CO2 under control and in a few million years it might be downright balmy.

Edit: ops grand parent mentioned Mars and it’s atmosphere is extremely thin. For comparison at 35,000 feet on earth it’s 3.4 psi. On mars at ground level it’s 0.088 psi. Add in being 53% further from the sun and would take quite a bit to make Mars habitable.

Venus has the opposite problem sitting much closer to the sun and with much higher atmospheric pressure.

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#24

Post by Ice_cream_suit »

ncmncm wrote: post #16
throwawayfooba wrote: post #2

Is this the first case of extraterrestrial life?

No, that was Laika.

That sadly was a case of extraterrestrial death.

"In 1999, several Russian sources reported that Laika had died when the cabin overheated on the fourth orbit. In October 2002, Dimitri Malashenkov, one of the scientists behind the Sputnik 2 mission, revealed that Laika had died by the fourth circuit of flight from overheating."

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#25

Post by ChuckMcM »

Well that is an interesting result. Also bodes well for the pan spermia crowd, they are the ones that think an asteroid impact can bring life to a planet and kick off the whole life cycle. Certainly the center of an icy mass probably stays well within the survival parameters of these forms of mold.

Also interesting to see if we can deduce the DNA changes that lead to this resistance. It would be an advantage for astronauts to be highly resistant to x-rays and other DNA damaging events.

Of course I always think of "The Andromeda Strain" when I read things like this. At least this mold doesn't seem to "eat" radiation for energy.

Random observation: I guess the Canadians spell mold as 'mould' ?

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#26

Post by MPSimmons »

Retric wrote: post #22
delecti wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more excited by the prospect that we've started terraforming Venus. It has an atmosphere, and with a lot of CO2. Wouldn't take many surviving plant microbes on one of the probes we've sent to start things off. Get the CO2 under control and in a few million years it might be downright balmy.

Edit: ops grand parent mentioned Mars and it’s atmosphere is extremely thin. For comparison at 35,000 feet on earth it’s 3.4 psi. On mars at ground level it’s 0.088 psi. Add in being 53% further from the sun and would take quite a bit to make Mars habitable. Venus has the opposite problem sitting much closer to the sun and with much higher atmospheric pressure.

The op actually said 'Venus'. You're right about Mars, though.

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#27

Post by MPSimmons »

Stratoscope wrote: post #19
GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're in luck! There's a company that makes beer with yeast that's been in space [0]. [0] https://vostokspacebeer.com/

I don't see anything on their site that indicates the use of yeast that has been in space. If that were the case they would surely mention it. It looks like it's just beer in a special bottle that they say will work in zero-G.

Ground Control is the real stuff: https://www.craftbeer.com/news/beer-release/ninkasi-ground-c...

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#28

Post by mkl »

ncmncm wrote: post #16
throwawayfooba wrote: post #2

Is this the first case of extraterrestrial life?

No, that was Laika.

There were probably microorganisms and fungi on Sputnik, and before that, things that didn't orbit, like a V2 rocket in 1944: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MW_18014

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#29

Post by csours »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #25

Well that is an interesting result. Also bodes well for the pan spermia crowd, they are the ones that think an asteroid impact can bring life to a planet and kick off the whole life cycle. Certainly the center of an icy mass probably stays well within the survival parameters of these forms of mold. Also interesting to see if we can deduce the DNA changes that lead to this resistance. It would be an advantage for astr…

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/87978/how-and-wh...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Spelling_Board

Re: The International Space Station is growing mould, inside and outside

#30

Post by CydeWeys »

wwwtyro wrote: post #4

"The research touches on this, and it warns astronauts to follow recommended planetary protection protocols designed to prevent visiting spacecraft from contaminating other planets and moons in our solar system with microorganisms from Earth. The study suggests that, because of the risk of contamination, these fungal spores may need to be considered a more serious threat." This makes me wonder if we've accidentally a…

Seriously, is this a threat or is it the unexpected boon of getting a jump-start on terraforming? If you could press a button and "contaminate" Mars with life that would start spreading and generating an oxygen atmosphere, wouldn't you?
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