Astronauts who live and work on space stations have to make sure to clean every last spot in their quarters.
And there’s new research focused on one big reason why: to keep big balls of moldy goo from growing in hiding places!
There’s actually quite a history of this in orbit.
Back in the 1990s, astronauts aboard the Mir space station came across big cold slimy blobs the size of bowling balls, hanging out behind a service panel.
The conditions on a space station are unfortunately pretty ideal for these kinds of organisms.
It’s a closed up space with human beings; as they breathe out they expel moisture, which floats around along with dust and little bits of skin or whatever that comes off the astronauts in the normal course of a day.
Fungi can actually reproduce better in space because there’s less gravity-based resistance to the spores they shoot out.
And some types of yeast contain antioxidants that actually shield them from the harmful effects of space radiation.
The prospect of stumbling upon a gross thing in space that looks like the evil bouncing ball Rover from the old TV show The Prisoner is bad enough.
But microbial growth is also not really stuff you want astronauts breathing in when they’re on a space station.
Plus, they can lead to safety hazards: the microbes on Mir were growing in ways that could have eventually shorted out electrical wiring or compromised the seals around the viewports (!)
A research team from The Ohio State University has been analyzing dust samples from the International Space Station.
The hope is that if they can better understand what leads to more microbes in space, they might also be able to better understand what conditions will slow those microbes down, which will help astronauts stay healthier and safer.
I mean, they’re still gonna have to do a lot of cleaning up there, but they’ll be healthier and safer.
Starting tomorrow in Kingwood, West Virginia, it’s the Preston County Buckwheat Festival.
Local farmers started growing buckwheat during the Great Depression and it eventually became the theme of their annual harvest celebration.
They recommend serving the buckwheat pancakes with sausage patties.
Keeping mold out of future space stations (Ohio State University)
Preston County Buckwheat Festival
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Photo by NASA via Flickr/Creative Commons
