Single bacteria grows 60 percent better on the International Space Station than on Earth
Researchers grew microbes collected from sports teams, historical monuments, museums, spacecraft, and schools and sent them to the International Space Station (ISS) for growth in space. While most of the microbes looked similar on Earth and in space, one type of bacteria actually grew much better in space. Ref. Source 2c.
Genes in Space-3 successfully identifies unknown microbes in space. Being able to identify microbes in real time aboard the International Space Station, without having to send them back to Earth for identification first, would be revolutionary for the world of microbiology and space exploration. The Genes in Space-3 team turned that possibility into a reality this year, when it completed the first-ever sample-to-sequence process entirely aboard the space station. Source 4c.
Why bacteria survive in space. Earth germs could be contaminating other planets. Despite extreme decontamination efforts, bacteria from Earth still manages to find its way into outer space aboard spacecraft. Biologist are working to better understand how and why some spores elude decontamination. Source 3o.