The researchers looked at samples from vacuum dust bags and air filters on the ISS.
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“By using both traditional and state-of-the-art molecular analysis techniques we can build a clearer picture of the global Space Station’s microbial community, helping to spot bacterial agents that may damage equipment or threaten astronaut health, and identify areas in need of more stringent cleaning”, affirmed microbiologist Dr Venkateswaran.
The DNA analysis revealed that the majority of the bacteria found on the ISS is associated with human skin, and very little of it was found in cleanrooms on Earth.
“Astronauts are often in a compromised state in microgravity because their bodies are going through so many changes”, said the lead author of the study, Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a microbiologist at JPL.
According to the findings from a latest study, ISS is home to more than a trillion microscopic germs that live in the air and on the surfaces of the floating space laboratory.
Cells were then injected with a dye to see if they were alive or not to help them identify the range of fungi and bacteria, and then compared the conditions on earth and the worldwide Space Station.
According to the study team, there are good chances of outbreaks of deadly diseases like diphtheria at ISS if NASA doesn’t take initiatives right away.
Samples of bacterial pathogens have been found aboard the worldwide Space Station and the new discovery raises the questions as to the safety of astronauts and their space experiments.
The samples analyzed during this study were the following: ISS HEPA filter particulates, vacuum cleaner bag components of ISS (ISS Debris), JPL Class 10 K cleanroom (JPL-SAF Debris), and JPL Class 1 K cleanroom (JPL-103 Debris).
It’d get unpleasantly stale and smelly in there, and that’s actually what astronauts on the worldwide Space Station deal with.
Looking forward to future projects involving people on Mars, the NASA needs to learn and understand as much as they can about these organisms and how they could affect the health of the astronauts on a long term, considering the time extension of these missions.
But the researchers did not address the virulence of these pathogens in closed environments or the risk of skin infection to astronauts. A 2013 study on Pseudomonas aeruginosa found that the bacteria grew faster and thicker than in space than on the ground. In a low fluid shear environment, like the tiny spaces in the intestinal wall or microgravity environment like space, bacteria act as though they’re safe, and proceed to multiply.
One of the key differences between the ISS and the Earth-based cleanrooms, Dr. Venkateswaran said, are that the cleanrooms constantly circulate fresh air while the air on the space station had to be filtered and recirculated.
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It is inhabited continuously by only six people while 50 people may be in a cleanrooms in a day but not inhabit it continuously.
