Moscow, April 3rd – A recent research report released by the Institute of Medical Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences shows that the cotton ball placed on the outer surface of the International Space Station can protect some microorganisms from surviving under ultraviolet radiation in space. Experts believe that this discovery means that more strictly sterilizing and disinfecting the spacecraft inside and outside the spacecraft is needed during an alien exploration mission.
According to a Russian Sputnik News Agency on the 3rd, experts from the above-mentioned research institute said at the Korolev astronautics video conference held in Moscow a space experiment conducted from 2017 to 2019, astronauts put cotton balls contaminated with microorganisms such as archaea, spore bacteria and yeasts into An experimental sample box without a lid, then fix the box to the experimental platform on the outer surface of the bulkhead of the International Space Station, and record the changes of these microorganisms and cotton balls.
The report said that the results showed that the cotton ball gradually turned yellow during the experiment, and its cotton fibers disintegrated due to high doses of space ultraviolet radiation. However, the disintegrated cotton fibers have a special protective effect on some archaea, spore bacteria and yeast-like bacteria, which have survived.
Jessewaya, the chief researcher of the institute, said that in this experiment, the state of microorganisms will change as they did not occur on the ground, and some microorganisms can survive in the external environment of the space station for at least two years.
Jessewaya said that the experiment shows that some earth microorganisms can survive in the harsh space environment outside the spacecraft. If the spacecraft goes to Venus, Mars and other celestial bodies, and then flies back to Earth, it needs to study how to sterilize and disinfect the spacecraft more strictly, and ensure that possible alien microorganisms are not brought back to Earth.