Certain bacteria can clump up, survive harsh conditions of space for many years, study suggests- Technology News, Newz9

Aug 31, 2020 18:17:21 IST

Scientists from Japan have found that there are specific varieties of bacteria that can survive the harsh conditions of outer space.

The study discovered {that a} species of bacteria extremely immune to radiation and different environmental hazards managed to survive outdoors the International Space Station for three years. The outcomes of the study had been revealed within the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

The Japanese Tanpopo mission, of which the study is part, is an orbital astrobiology experiment trying into the potential for interplanetary switch of life, natural compounds, and attainable terrestrial particles in low-Earth orbit. The mission was undertaken to check the ‘panspermia’ concept which means that microbes can go from one planet to a different and distribute life.

Under the Tanpopo mission umbrella, researchers additionally included pellets of dried Deinococcus bacteria – a bacterium recognized to be extraordinarily hardy and immune to nuclear radiation on Earth – in aluminium plates positioned on panels outdoors the space station which are uncovered to space continuous but additionally space radiation.

Study creator Akihiko Yamagishi and his workforce used an plane and scientific balloons to search out Deinococcus bacteria that was really floating 400 km above Earth’s floor in 2018. This led Yamagashi to surprise if the bacteria may survive in space and even the journey to different planets throughout excessive temperature fluctuations and harsh radiation conditions.

For the mission, researchers ready samples of the bacteria in pellets of varied thicknesses and positioned them in wells of aluminium plates, amassing information after one, two and three years. The bacteria had been then examined to see how they fared.

Study authors discovered that bacteria that had been bigger than 0.5 millimetres had been in a position to survive partially, sustaining DNA harm. They noticed that though bacteria on the floor of the colony died, a protecting layer beneath it survived. As per study authors, collectively the outcomes assist the chance of “microbial cell aggregates (pellets) as an ark for interplanetary transfer of microbes within several years.”

However, Deinococcus bacteria studied contained in the space station didn’t fare so effectively – moisture and oxygen proved dangerous to its survival.

According to researchers, cell pellets with a thickness larger than 0.5 mm are anticipated to survive between 15 and 45 years of publicity to UV on ISS EF and 48 years publicity to space in the dead of night.

As per researchers, “Deinococcal cell pellets in the sub-millimeter range would be sufficient to allow survival during an interplanetary journey from Earth to Mars or Mars to Earth.”