(ORDO NEWS) — Earth‘s microorganisms trapped in space can change and become dangerous.
This was reported by Interfax-AVN with reference to the deputy director for scientific work of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation – the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Sychev. According to him, a potential threat to microorganisms in outer space can be brought by man himself.
“You can’t sterilize a person before sending him into space. He takes bacteria there from Earth, they live there at the station, multiply, and actively, then they can mutate, and this can be a potential danger,” the agency quotes his interlocutor.
The scientist spoke about the experiment “Meteorite”, during which spores of microorganisms were placed outside the descent vehicle and found themselves in the same conditions as a meteorite entering into the dense layers of the atmosphere.
Studies have shown that part of the dispute did not die. This indicates that there is a possibility of spore survival in the rock of a meteorite or other cosmic body. And after entering the terrestrial environment, such microorganisms could begin reproduction. However, Vladimir Sychev adds that there is no other evidence of this possibility yet. In addition, he said, bioforms in space need not be extraterrestrial at all.
“In the orbits where the International Space Station flies, spores of microorganisms are carried out into the vacuum from the Earth. As part of the Test experiment, spores of microorganisms that were of Earth origin but could get into space were found on the outer surface of the ISS,” notes Vladimir Sychev.
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