The ISS Is a Cesspool of Bacteria and Fungi, Study Finds (gizmodo.com) 151
An extensive survey of bacteria and fungi on surfaces inside the International Space Station has revealed an astonishing number of microorganisms living among the astronauts -- the health impacts of which aren't entirely clear. Gizmodo reports: Since it was first established in 1998, the International Space Station has been visited by hundreds of astronauts (227 to be exact). These trips have invariably introduced an array of microbes to the orbital outpost, as have shipments of cargo. But while astronauts return to Earth, their germs stay behind. New research published today in Microbiome offers the most comprehensive catalogue to date of the bacteria and fungi living on the ISS, detailing the station's distinctive and ever-changing microbiological profile. This research will now be used by NASA and other space agencies to develop safety measures for the ISS and other long-term space missions.
NASA astronauts took swabs using sterile wipes at eight predefined locations on the ISS, on three different occasions during a 14 month period. The locations included both high and low traffic areas, including the viewing window, toilet, exercise platform, stowage rack, dining table, and sleeping quarters. NASA astronaut Terry Virts performed the first two sampling sessions on March 4, 2015 and then three months later on May 15, 2015. NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams took the third sample a year later on May 6, 2016. The samples were returned to Earth for analysis. The ISS may seem like a cold, sterile place in space, but the analysis showed it's a veritable cornucopia for microbes. The most prolific bacteria, according to culture results, were Staphylococcus (26 percent of total samples), Pantoea (23 percent), Bacillus (11 percent), Staphylococcus aureus (10 percent) and Pantoea conspicua and Pantoea gaviniae (both at 9 percent). The fungal population was primarily comprised of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. The authors warn that some strains of bacteria could form damaging biological sheets known as biofilms: "[B]iofilm formation on the ISS could decrease infrastructure stability by causing mechanical blockages, reducing heat transfer efficiency, and inducing microbial influenced corrosion..."
NASA astronauts took swabs using sterile wipes at eight predefined locations on the ISS, on three different occasions during a 14 month period. The locations included both high and low traffic areas, including the viewing window, toilet, exercise platform, stowage rack, dining table, and sleeping quarters. NASA astronaut Terry Virts performed the first two sampling sessions on March 4, 2015 and then three months later on May 15, 2015. NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams took the third sample a year later on May 6, 2016. The samples were returned to Earth for analysis. The ISS may seem like a cold, sterile place in space, but the analysis showed it's a veritable cornucopia for microbes. The most prolific bacteria, according to culture results, were Staphylococcus (26 percent of total samples), Pantoea (23 percent), Bacillus (11 percent), Staphylococcus aureus (10 percent) and Pantoea conspicua and Pantoea gaviniae (both at 9 percent). The fungal population was primarily comprised of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. The authors warn that some strains of bacteria could form damaging biological sheets known as biofilms: "[B]iofilm formation on the ISS could decrease infrastructure stability by causing mechanical blockages, reducing heat transfer efficiency, and inducing microbial influenced corrosion..."
vs Earth (Score:5, Insightful)
The article would be drastically more informative if it gave a comparison to a similar building on Earth.
Every piece of our surroundings is teeming with bacterial and fungal life, you'd need to go to extreme lengths to eliminate that.
Re:vs Earth (Score:5, Informative)
Not to mention, you'd have to kill all things that have a digestive tract. In humans, there's something like 10 times the amount of bacterial and viral cells inside us compared to our own cells. Then there are things like the benign microflora of our skin, without which opportunist pathogens become a significant problem very quickly.
It's literally a critical part of our lives. We could not exist without our microbiomes. So the question isn't "is it a cesspool of microscopic lifeforms". That's a given as humans exist in that area. The question is "is this microflora harmful to people on the station and operations there". So far, the answer seems to be "we don't know", as everything discussed has been dressed as "it might cause problems" which is the framing often used by journalist class to make things that we don't know into things that are scary and hence sell clicks and shares.
Re:vs Earth (Score:5, Interesting)
"The question is "is this microflora harmful to people on the station and operations there"."
Well, how many astronauts are getting infected by bacteria and fungi in ways that are affecting their performance, or lives?
It seems that we don't hear of very many astronauts getting sick, so either there's a media blackout, or they don't often get very sick?
Suggesting that the microflora is not that harmful. Yet. Maybe?
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"The question is "is this microflora harmful to people on the station and operations there"."
Well, how many astronauts are getting infected by bacteria and fungi in ways that are affecting their performance, or lives?
It seems that we don't hear of very many astronauts getting sick, so either there's a media blackout, or they don't often get very sick?
Suggesting that the microflora is not that harmful. Yet. Maybe?
Astronauts get a cocktail of anti-germ shit injected on them (on top of them being in excellent shape as a job requirement.) They aren't necessarily a good sample from which to deduct cause-and-effect.
We just don't know. And it is not clear if the density/concentration of biota in the ISS is that different from what occurs naturally in the world. Think of the biota under a rotting log in the Amazons, the Russian Taiga, or the Pacific Northwest for instance.
I'd say this: "absence of evidence is not evide
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You can't eliminate bacteria and fungi from Humans. Out GI tract is totally dependent on a microbiological fauna. If you kill off that ecosystem you'll die. This isn't an exaggeration, those bacteria are absolutely essential to your ability to digest food and without them you'd either starve to death or die from diarrhea as your GI tract ecosystem collapsed.
Our very lives are dependent on these ecosystems. And as the original author noted it's very very difficult to eliminate micro-biological life from stuf
Mars landers must be cooked well over 100 deg C (Score:2)
In order to make them sterile, so we do not contaminate Mars. If we do find life there, we want to know that we did not bring it with us.
It might be difficult to find astronauts that are willing to go through that procedure...
Re:vs Earth (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems that we don't hear of very many astronauts getting sick, so either there's a media blackout, or they don't often get very sick?
Or HIPAA applies to astronauts too.....
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"Currently, 47/89 (53%) astronauts from shuttle-flights and 14/23 (61%) astronauts from ISS missions shed one or more herpes viruses in saliva/urine samples. Astronauts shed Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), and herpes-simplex-1 (HSV-1) in saliva and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in urine. Larger quantities and increased frequencies for these viruses were found during spaceflight as compared to before or after flight samples and their matched healthy controls. "
https://www.frontiersin.or
Re:vs Earth (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFA:
"Fascinatingly, the microbial profile on the ISS is fairly representative of what we see in other human-built environments on Earth, including gyms and hospitals."
Not exactly surprising given the amount of time the astronauts have to spend in gyms and medical facilities before they are cleared to fly. As they say down here on Earth, "No S**t Sherlock"
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The world is a dirty place, get over it. (Score:1)
There are bacteria everywhere, on every surface. There is no such thing as a sterile environment, anywhere. The instant you wipe down anything, floating things that landing on it.
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or evolves into something virulent there
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the most likely scenario. You're exposed to a lot more radiation up there, and given the short life-cycle of fungi and bacteria, that's a good environment to create a very diverse ecosystem [wikipedia.org].
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Without a huge supply of hosts to pass through they've probably reached homeostatis with everything up there.
Everything dangerous their bodies have already killed off, and everything benign has no real selection pressure to change and become deadly. Sure, it could happen, but it's way more likely to happen on earth with a greater population than it is with a tiny population in space.
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Yeah, it's almost like a species whose entire ecology and evolutionary history is built upon a foundation of microbial ecosystems, carries part of that ecosystem with them wherever they go...
Multi-cellular life is the anomaly on Earth - our cells are hopelessly outnumbered by microbes even within our own bodies, and outmassed in the global ecosystem. The microbes were here for billions of years before we arose, and get many thousands of times more generations of evolution per year than we do. Wipe out all
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It's probably more healthy for them to have most of this stuff up there. We have evolved to deal with microbes... remove them all, and problems probably will eventually arise.
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We could eliminate lying straight people too.
But what a disaster -- no politicians. Maybe very few surviving lawyers.
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What happens on ISS stays on YouTube.
ISS pays for itself in these ways (Score:5, Insightful)
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without realizing these sorts of things could happen
People are covered in all kinds of micro-organisms, so it makes total sense that they would spread inside people's living and working spaces.
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Re:ISS pays for itself in these ways (Score:5, Insightful)
if we built a moonbase or a mars colony without realizing these sorts of things could happen
Bacteria and fungus are a normal part of our environment. Your skin, your hair are teaming with them. They are in your gut, your saliva, your sweat. There is nothing in TFA to indicate what they found is abnormal.
The only way to eliminate bacteria and fungus is to eliminate humans, and do robotic missions instead.
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The point is that no-one has ever tried having an isolated, in-orbit habitat with decades of the stuff in it. Now we know nothing bad will happen if we set something similar up on the Moon or Mars, for example.
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You can't have a Moon colony without HUMANS. Do you really think we should just stay on Earth for as long as our species is alive? If so then we've got nothing to talk about.
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You can't have a Moon colony without HUMANS.
A human colony on the moon is pointless as long as it is dependent on supplies from earth, and we are a long long way from building a self-sustaining colony.
In the meantime, robot missions are the way to go.
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There is nothing in TFA to indicate what they found is abnormal.
What is abnormal is the ecosystem surrounding all of this. On the planet, the entire planet is essentially the ecosystem. Checks and balances are already built in.
The ISS is an entirely different ecosystem than the planet. The checks and balances found here on the planet do not apply to that ecosystem.
That leads us to the supreme question regarding all of this:
How do these very common and normal bacteria behave when the normal checks and balances are no longer present?
TL;DR, that bacteria are normal, but th
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You're just not getting it are you? In order to build closed, self-contained enviroments that are sustainable, we need to know the effects of these things so we can design lifesystems and procedures that can deal with it effectively. That's the whole point of my comment, which apparently you completely missed.
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Right, all the data we get from things like this will go into designing better, more robust, comprehensive lifesystems in space and for offworld colonies.
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Periodic venting to vacuum? (Score:2)
UV exposure (Score:2)
But UV does.
...only those bacteria that are exposed directly to the UV radiation.
Bacteria ('s spores) could be hidden in small recesses, cracks on surface, etc.
Bacteria ('s spores) could be hidden beneath a sheat of biofilm that would absorb some part of the UV light.
That will cause some of the spores to survive, and once atmosphere is re-established, to grow back into live bacteria colonies.
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Microbes stuck to surfaces wouldn't all be pushed out into the vacuum, because there's no air in-between them and the surface, and they may hide in a crevice/scratch that air rushes past. Furthermore, there are plenty of surfaces that move and are only exposed when in certain positions (say, a headphone jack when not plugged in).
A more effective solution might be to have moveable radiation shielding, have the crew move to a shielded section and fry the other sections enough to kill the microbes, then repeat
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A more effective solution might be to have moveable radiation shielding, have the crew move to a shielded section and fry the other sections enough to kill the microbes, then repeat for the section they were holed up in.
That sounds like an excellent way to deteriorate all the materials inside the ISS.
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A more effective solution might be to have moveable radiation shielding, have the crew move to a shielded section and fry the other sections enough to kill the microbes, then repeat for the section they were holed up in.
That sounds like an excellent way to deteriorate all the materials inside the ISS.
... and to select for radiation-resistant fungi and bacteria
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Well, anything you do to try to kill bacteria that's not 100% effective will do that.
The only response we really have for that right now is to use "multispectral" antibiotics - using several things at a time to kill them, to get the odds as close to 100% as possible by killing bacteria that have evolved a resistance to one of the included methods.
Sadly, this just means that we are selecting for superbugs now. (microbes that are resistant to all of the
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Would be easier to put up UVC lighting for occasional sterilization, or shut off a room and turn on an ozone generator for a bit and wait for it to break down to acceptable levels before going back in.
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Ozone is highly corrosive, if would be a very bad thing to be making it on the space station.
The appropriate response to this issue is simply to examine the colonies of microbiological life and determine if any of them are a threat to the station or it's occupants. You can't sterilize anything humans interact with on a daily basis. It would be an utterly pointless action because the first human back in would immediately recontaminate everything. We are covered in microbiological life, its all over us and we
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Can't they just vent sections of the station to vacuum to (semi-) sterilize things?
Wouldn't work. Not only that that probably wouldn't sterilize anything, but last time they did this test, they even found bacteria on the outside of the ISS.
Mir went the same way (Score:2)
After 15 years Mir had 140 known micro-organisms. It also stank.
The ISS has been up for 20 years with another 11 to go. It's going to get pretty foul up there!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Vacuum cleaner needed! (Score:2)
Re:Vacuum cleaner needed! (Score:5, Funny)
If they need a vacuum cleaner, I'm sure all they have to do is open the door to find one
Who says you can't take it with you? (Score:2)
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Steam vapor cleaner for ISS (Score:5, Interesting)
The article suggests that formation of biofilms could lead to problems.
The ISS needs a good way to kill biofilms and leave surfaces really clean. However, as a closed system, the ISS needs to be careful about chemicals, and it's expensive to ship anything up there.
Therefore I suggest the ISS should use a steam vapor cleaner. The ISS has plenty of water, and its environmental system already has to be able to remove water vapor from the air. I commented about steam vapor cleaners in another story from last August, and cited studies about their effectiveness:
https://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12424966&cid=57052404 [slashdot.org]
I found a link to a study showing that a particular model of commercial steam vapor cleaner was effective against biofilms, but I don't know if other good models are equally effective or if there was something specific about that one.
I wonder if it would be feasible to simply take an off-the-shelf steam vapor cleaner to the ISS. I don't know what their power budget is... the steam vapor cleaner I bought (a Vapamore MR-100) has a 1500 Watt heater, according to its manual. I know the ISS has a lot of solar cells but I don't know whether 1500 Watts would be a problem or not. Also, filling the water tank in microgravity might be a problem.
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You don't think the ISS is actually made of steel or iron based products do you?
The ISS is constructed of plastic and aluminum. I'd be surprised if there was more than 100lbs of steel on the whole station.
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Steam cleaning a steel can that has humans and electronics in it. Possibly the most retarded idea I will encounter today.
It's actually an Aluminum can, but sadly, they did have to use high strength steel for structural members. Consequently, there is the risk of corrosion, although I'd imagine that the steel members were treated aggressively for corrosion resistance. Even in the mundane world of terrestrial vehicles, that is a fairly well-solved problem when one is willing to throw money at it. Powder coating, epoxy coatings, metallic passivation, sacrificial anodes...
They just need a UV lamp.
The surfaces actually have to be cleaned, and the UV itsel
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[Surfaces in the ISS] would have to have been designed for steam cleaning, though.
I'm not sure of that. My house wasn't particularly designed for steam cleaning and it works quite well.
My biggest concern would be whether plastics might outgas some vapors when steam cleaned. In a house one needn't worry too much; one can just open a window. Obviously not an option in the ISS.
NASA being NASA, they won't just ship up a cleaner, they will run tests and studies for a long time. This is bad because they take
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
no difference (Score:2)
so no difference between earth or space station?
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More precisely, no difference between the space station and the bathrooms of a fast-food joint.
That's...pretty slow (Score:2)
The last set of samples was taken 3 YEARS ago and they're only publishing now?
That's slow even for government labs.
Well, we wanted "life in space"...
Why.... (Score:1)
Open the doors for a few hours (Score:2)
Communication problem (Score:2)
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No... no... Me stay home. [fandom.com]
Pull a "portable sun" through it? (Score:1)
Doesn't the various spectrums of light disinfect and remove various nasties?
Perhaps install very bright lights throughout the space station, throw open the windows and air out the place.
That always worked back on the farm!
Hundreds of astronauts (Score:2)
So, exactly 2.27 hundred astronauts.
Congratulations, AC! You just invented a new word! (Score:2)
Did you mean: hydronaut
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Your search - hundronaut - did not match any documents.
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UV? Ozone? (Score:2)
UV works. (Score:2)
Strong UV kills basically everything- it doesn't clear the organisms themselves (that still requires elbow grease) but if airborne/surface pathogens are an issue maybe sealing a room with some VERY strong UV lights for an hour or so would KO everything in the air and a majority of what is on the surfaces that are actively touched by the astronauts, which could then be manually cleaned.
Now stuff that's buried in whatever's behind the walls, that's another trick entirely.
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Do you believe the ISS is basically a bare room or do you think UV light penetrates into compartments, computers, and the various layers of the station?
BEAM (Score:2)
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BEAM is fabric, so quite different than metal and plastics.
In addition, it is possible that BEAM is using microban OR better yet, silver threads would be better. Bacteria, and I believe, Fungus do not thrive on that.
So, CaffeinatedBacon(Crimson Tsunami) how else will you prove that you are a lying idiot?
What else would anyone expect? (Score:2)
bug phun (Score:1)
"microbial influenced corrosion..." (Score:2)
Awesome - send ISS to Mars (Score:2)
Hmm (Score:2)
Seems like putting meat bags into space comes with some complications.