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An small microbial ecosystem has formed on the International Space Station
The largest study yet of the ISS’s microbes hints we’re may be keeping it too clean.
After analyzing over 800 samples collected by astronauts in multiple modules of the United States Orbital Segment in the ISS, Benitez and his team concluded the microbial and chemical environment on the station closely resembled the one found at COVID-19 isolation wards during the height of the pandemic. “We applied some of the methods we use for monitoring extremely clean environments like the spacecraft assembly facility [SAF] that Jet Propulsion Laboratory employs to build the rovers they send to Mars,” Benitez said. He imagines in the future we could build spacecraft and space stations hosting entire gardens with microbes that would interact with plants, pollinators, and animals to create balanced, self-sustaining ecosystems.
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