NEW COATING GREATLY REDUCES BACTERIA ON PROBLEM SURFACES, STUDY FINDS

摘要

Extreme spaceflight conditions can force average bacteria on astronauts to toughen up, while conditions simultaneously lower the immune defences of the stressed, isolated crew. These effects (and the risk of infection) grow with mission duration. Now researchers have taken another small step towards deep space exploration, by testing a new silver- and ruthenium-based antimicrobial coating aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Published in Frontiers in Microbiology, their study shows that the AGXX dramatically reduced the number of bacteria on contamination-prone surfaces - and could help protect future astronauts beyond the moon and Mars.