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Preventing Sick Spaceships

Posted by Zonk on from the that-is-not-a-pleasant-mental-image dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The official NASA home page has a writeup on one of the lesser-known dangers of living on a Space Station: space germs. 'Picture this: You're one of several astronauts homeward bound after a three-year mission to Mars. Halfway back from the Red Planet, your spacecraft starts suffering intermittent electrical outages. So you remove a little-used service panel to check some wiring. To your unbelieving eyes, floating in midair in the microgravity near the wiring is a shivering, shimmering globule of dirty water larger than a grapefruit. And on the wiring connectors are unmistakable flecks of mold.' The article goes on to describe the unlikely circumstances that form these micro-ecologies, and what astronauts do to deal with the situation."

8 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Slime... by kksm19820117 · · Score: 2, Funny

    As long as I don't see any of that 'Alien' slime, I won't be worrying too much. :)

    --
    'Anything less than a 100% is simply not good enough.' - Kaisare, Kapil Sadashiv
  2. Re:Bottom Line by Timesprout · · Score: 3, Funny

    Name me one voyage that lasted longer than even one year without having to dock in some fashion
    Pigs in Space. I dont recall the USS Swinetrek ever docking.
    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  3. Re:Bottom Line by dattaway · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eight year round trips to Mars are never going to work.

    Sure it can! We'll do it just like we did when we went to the moon. No one will give away the secret.

  4. They cut the power by DragonHawk · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is this going to be a standup fight, sir, or another bughunt?

    Given the lead-in to the article, wouldn't "How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!" be more appropriate?

    :)
    --

    dragonhawk@iname.microsoft.com
    I do not like Microsoft. Remove them from my email address.
  5. Re:Anti-Microbal concerns by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then again, I know nothing about this branch of science. Has that ever stopped anyone on slashdot?
  6. Re:Bottom Line by Philotic · · Score: 3, Funny

    >>Eight year round trips to Mars are never going to work.

    Certainly not with that attitude. :P

  7. Hmmmmm..... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 2, Funny

    "I'm sorry Dave, but I'm afraid I can't do that."

    --
    Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
  8. Re:Deep space Homer by cbacba · · Score: 2, Funny

    In general, there's nothing like shortwave uV to dispose of unwanted fungii and bacteria. Unless maybe, it's the andromeda strain.