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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

#81

Post by ourlordcaffeine »

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #54
CydeWeys wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine though. Having a second home for humanity is more important than maximally preserving the ability to detect past life (note that we wouldn't be eliminating that ability, just hindering it somewhat). Also, we think we'd be able to tell pretty easily whether any life detected is from Earth (i.e. we brought it along with us). Life that isn't descended from the same tree of life as us is likely to be radicall…

Mars will never be able to be a "second home" for humanity: it lacks the ability to maintain an atmosphere that can support humans due to its weak magnetic field. The bottom of the ocean would be far more habitable if we faced any type of extinction event.

Without the magnetic field, a thick atmosphere on Mars will still persist for tens of thousands of years.

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

#83

Post by quickthrower2 »

goddtriffin wrote: post #3

"But the spores may not be all bad though. Cortesao's research is looking for ways the space-growing fungi may help us long-term, investigating their capacity to grow in less than ideal conditions. The study's aim is to harness the hardy microbes as biological factories to create materials astronauts may use on longer missions, such as antibiotics and vitamins." I wouldn't mind tasting some space-alcohol.

Space-hooch!

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

#84

Post by thechao »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #43
mrfusion wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the big problem is that there is no water on Venus though?

The problem is there's very little hydrogen on Venus. It has next to no magnetic field, too. Days last 243 Earth days. There are a lot of problems with Venus.

This sounds like a conversation between a used-planet-salesman & a middle-aged couple who’re ‘just looking’.

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

#85

Post by CriticalCathed »

zenpaul wrote: post #80

Being a homeowner, hearing an "irritating mould problem" didn't make me think "resilient fungi could lead to new kinds of materials for use in space". It made me think that there are some serious health risks for those astronauts if that mould gets out of control. Funny nobody mentions that.

Mold problems are significantly overblown in homes. Even a moderate amount of mold isn't really a significant health risk. It can be a serious problem for people who are allergic, or have compromised immune systems. Even the ever feared "black mold" isn't particularly dangerous.

When a home has a mold problem, the solution often isn't even to clean up the mold. The solution is to figure out why the mold is growing, which is usually humidity problems or leaky pipes or poor ventilation, and deal with that. Once you've got the moisture problem handled the mold issue pretty much goes away.

(don't astronauts have suppressed immune systems or something btw?)

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

#86

Post by xtiansimon »

mongol wrote: post #52
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…

Is the Andromeda Strain good? I have heard about it.

As long as Pandora's Box has been opened, this TV Series has both themes and space station, biological organism (and Halle Berry). hehe.

Extant (2104-2015) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3155320/

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

#87

Post by bufferoverflow »

mkl wrote: post #28
ncmncm wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And long before that, all kinds of organisms lifted up by natural explosion - asteroids, comets, volcanoes.

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

#88

Post by kieckerjan »

vasco wrote: post #68
jodrellblank wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I would; if you think it a useful idea for humans to become a multiplanetary species, then it seems to me just as important that life itself be multiplanetary. And that we ought to be spamming as much life as we can, the hardiest Earth organisms, as far as we can onto any body where they stand a chance of taking hold - Venus, Europa, Martian poles, comets, lobbing things at distant stars with planets intending th…

Why is it so important for the universe for life to exist and what makes it our job to guarantee it does?

Well, that is obvious. Because causality works backwards and because we need conscious observers everywhere to make sure the laws of nature turn out just right for the universe to exist.

I am not making this up. There are physicists who believe this. Explode your head: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/revie...

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

#89

Post by throwaway2048 »

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…

Provides really interesting evidence for one particular type of panspermia if larger organisms than bacteria are able to enter orbit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia#Radiopanspermia

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

#90

Post by sorenn111 »

CriticalCathed wrote: post #85
zenpaul wrote: post #80

Being a homeowner, hearing an "irritating mould problem" didn't make me think "resilient fungi could lead to new kinds of materials for use in space". It made me think that there are some serious health risks for those astronauts if that mould gets out of control. Funny nobody mentions that.

Mold problems are significantly overblown in homes. Even a moderate amount of mold isn't really a significant health risk. It can be a serious problem for people who are allergic, or have compromised immune systems. Even the ever feared "black mold" isn't particularly dangerous. When a home has a mold problem, the solution often isn't even to clean up the mold. The solution is to figure out why the mold is growing, w…

I think from the Twin Study they saw changes in the immune system, but not severely compromised. Additionally, NASA astronauts are a highly selective population in pretty strong physical conditions who are lightyears away from those you hear about who have truly suppressed immune systems.
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