NASA discovers new microbe in spacecraft cleanrooms

摘要

A new microbe has been discovered by a NASA microbiologist in spacecraft cleanrooms in Florida and South America. This microbe survives on very few nutrients and is resistant to stressors such as drying, chemical cleaning or UV treatments that would kill other microbes. NASA cleanrooms are some of the cleanest in the world, with fewer microbes living in them than in almost any other environment on Earth. They are frequently tested for organisms, bacteria and other living things for a variety of reasons, but the surveys are important for knowing what might hitch a ride into space. If extraterrestrial life is ever found, it would be checked against the census of a few hundred types of microbes detected in spacecraft cleanrooms.