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NASA’s cleanrooms rank amongst the cleanest areas in the world, and for excellent factor– these sterilized areas are strengthened to avoid even the hardiest Earth microorganisms from riding to other worlds aboard NASA spacecraft. Even in the most sterilized locations on Earth, life discovers a method.
Now, professionals prepare to check these newly found bugs inside a “planetary simulation chamber” that might expose whether these microorganisms, or ones with comparable adjustments, might endure a journey through area to Mars, potentially infecting the alien worlds on arrival.
“It was a genuine ‘stop and re-check everything’ moment,” research study co-author Alexandre Rosadoa teacher of Bioscience at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, informed Live Science about the findings, which were explained in a paper released in May in the journal MicrobiomeWhile there were reasonably few of these microorganisms, they continued for a very long time and in numerous cleanroom environments, he included.
Recognizing these abnormally durable organisms and studying their survival methods matters, the scientists state, due to the fact that any microorganism efficient in slipping through basic cleanroom controls might likewise avert the planetary-protection safeguards indicated to avoid Earth life from polluting other worlds.
When asked whether any of these microorganisms might, in theory, endure conditions throughout a journey to Mars’ northern polar cap, where Phoenix landed in 2008, Rosado stated numerous types do bring genes that might assist them adjust to the tensions of spaceflight, such as DNA repair work and dormancy-related strength. He warned that their survival would depend on how they manage extreme conditions a microorganism would deal with both throughout area travel and on Mars– elements the group didn’t test– consisting of direct exposure to vacuum, extreme radiation, deep cold and high levels of UV at the Martian surface area.
To check out that concern, the scientists are now constructing a planetary simulation chamber at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia to expose the germs to Mars-like and space-like conditions, Rosado stated. The chamber, now in its last assembly stage, with pilot experiments anticipated to start in early 2026, is crafted to imitate tensions such as the low, carbon-dioxide-rich atmospheric pressure of Mars, high radiation, and the severe temperature level swings the microorganisms would deal with throughout spaceflight. These regulated environments will enable researchers to examine how sturdy microorganisms adjust and endure under mixes of tensions similar to those come across throughout spaceflight or on the Martian surface area, stated Rosado.
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The planetary simulation chamber at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. Researchers will quickly utilize it to recreate Mars-like and space-like conditions and test how the freshly found microorganisms make it through and adjust. (Image credit: Niketan Patel and Alexandre Rosado/King Abdullah University of Science and Technology)‘Cleanrooms do not include ‘no life”
NASA’s spacecraft-assembly cleanrooms are engineered to be hostile to microbes — a cornerstone of the agency’s efforts to prevent Earth organisms from hitchhiking to worlds beyond Earth — through continuously filtered air, strict humidity control and repeated treatments using chemical detergents and UV light, among other measures.
Even so, “cleanrooms do not consist of ‘no life,'” said Rosado. “Our outcomes reveal these brand-new types are normally uncommon however can be discovered, which fits with long-lasting, low-level perseverance in cleanrooms.”
During the Phoenix lander’s assembly at the Kennedy Space Center’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, a team led by study co-author Kasthuri Venkateswaran, who is a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, collected and preserved 215 bacterial strains from the cleanroom floors. Some samples were gathered before the spacecraft arrived in April 2007, again during assembly and testing in June, and once more after the spacecraft moved to the launch pad in August, according to the study.
At the time, researchers lacked the technology to classify new species precisely or in large numbers. But DNA technology has advanced dramatically in the 17 years since that mission, and today scientists can sequence almost every gene these microbes carry and compare their DNA to broad genetic surveys of microbes collected from cleanrooms in later years. This allows scientists “to study how frequently and for how long these microorganisms appear in various locations and times, which wasn’t possible in 2007,” said Rosado.
Further analysis revealed a suite of survival strategies. Many of the newly identified species carry genes that help them resist cleaning chemicals, form sticky biofilms that anchor them to surfaces, repair radiation-damaged DNA or produce tough, dormant spores — adaptations that help them survive in tucked-away corners or microscopic cracks, the study reports. This makes the microbes “outstanding test organisms” for validating the decontamination protocols and detection systems that space agencies rely on to keep spacecraft sterile, Rosado said.
From a broader research standpoint, Rosado said the next step is coordinated, long-term sampling across multiple cleanrooms using standardized methods, paired with controlled experiments that measure microbes’ survival limits and stress responses, said Rosado.
“This would provide us a much clearer photo of which characteristics really matter for planetary defense and which may have translational worth in biotechnology or astrobiology,” he stated.
Sharmila Kuthunur is an independent area reporter based in Bengaluru, India. Her work has actually likewise appeared in Scientific American, Science,Astronomyand Space.com, to name a few publications. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University in Boston. Follow her on BlueSky @skuthunur.bsky.social
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