Bacteria Could Travel From Earth to Other Planets on Space Probes
- 10 years ago
According to a recent scientific study from NASA, it’s possible that bacteria from Earth could be carried to other planets on interplanetary space missions, like the Mars probes. If life is found on other planets, the presence of traveling bacteria would make it difficult to determine of it had been carried to the other planet from Earth or not.
According to a recent scientific study from NASA, it’s possible that bacteria from Earth could be carried to other planets on space missions, like the Mars probes.
If life is found on other planets, it would be difficult to determine if it had been carried there from Earth or was already in existence.
To address this concern, researchers studied spores from different kinds of bacteria.
They found that some spores are able to survive sterilization and the extreme environment of space, including high levels of ultraviolet, or UV radiation.
NASA scientists wrote that their resistance to UV radiation “makes it likely that spores could survive a trip on a spacecraft to Mars if they are sheltered against solar radiation, perhaps in a tiny pocket of the spacecraft surface or underneath a layer of other spores.”
One of the studies, which took place at the European Technology Exposure Facility, mounted outside of the International Space Station, found that the spores survived for 18 months while being exposed to the conditions of space.
The spores that survived also exhibited a higher resistance to UV radiation when they returned to Earth.
According to a recent scientific study from NASA, it’s possible that bacteria from Earth could be carried to other planets on space missions, like the Mars probes.
If life is found on other planets, it would be difficult to determine if it had been carried there from Earth or was already in existence.
To address this concern, researchers studied spores from different kinds of bacteria.
They found that some spores are able to survive sterilization and the extreme environment of space, including high levels of ultraviolet, or UV radiation.
NASA scientists wrote that their resistance to UV radiation “makes it likely that spores could survive a trip on a spacecraft to Mars if they are sheltered against solar radiation, perhaps in a tiny pocket of the spacecraft surface or underneath a layer of other spores.”
One of the studies, which took place at the European Technology Exposure Facility, mounted outside of the International Space Station, found that the spores survived for 18 months while being exposed to the conditions of space.
The spores that survived also exhibited a higher resistance to UV radiation when they returned to Earth.