How Long Can Life Wait?
The gist
Japanese scientists' three-year ISS experiment found D. radiodurans bacteria survived space exposure better than an indoor control group.
The findings bear on whether Earth microbes already contaminate Mars.
How it unfolded
- 2015A three-year experiment began in which Japanese scientists hung plates covered with bacteria off the side of the International Space Station.
- date unknownAfter three years, colonies of deinococcus radiodurans were not just revivable but in better shape than a control group kept inside the space station.
- date unknownThe scientists estimated a 1 mm pellet of D. radiodurans could survive direct exposure to interplanetary space for 2-8 years, and potentially decades if shielded from sunlight.
Key terms
- ISS
- A crewed research station in low Earth orbit built and operated through international cooperation.
- D. radiodurans
- A bacterium that is an extremophile and one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known.
- control group
- In comparative experiments, the group that receives a standard treatment, a placebo, or no treatment at all.
Source: Wikipedia