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How Microbes Survive Clean Rooms and Contaminate Spacecraft (phys.org)

Posted by BeauHD on from the behind-the-scenes dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Rakesh Mogul, a Cal Poly Pomona professor of biological chemistry, was the lead author of an article in the journal Astrobiology that offers the first biochemical evidence explaining the reason the contamination persists. To figure out how the spacecraft microbiome survives in the cleanroom facilities, the research team analyzed several Acinetobacter strains that were originally isolated from the Mars Odyssey and Phoenix spacecraft facilities. They found that under very nutrient-restricted conditions, most of the tested strains grew on and biodegraded the cleaning agents used during spacecraft assembly. The work showed that cultures grew on ethyl alcohol as a sole carbon source while displaying reasonable tolerances towards oxidative stress. This is important since oxidative stress is associated with desiccating and high radiation environments similar to Mars. The tested strains were also able to biodegrade isopropyl alcohol and Kleenol 30, two other cleaning agents commonly used, with these products potentially serving as energy sources for the microbiome.

24 comments

  1. So IOW by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    alcoholic hand sanitizer is breakfast for them.

    1. Re:So IOW by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

      I had a college roommate who survived on ethanol as his sole carbon source too, but frankly we're going to terraform all these places anyway, so unless the xenobiologists can get there first, it might be smarter to just send the crafts as-is (maybe with my old roommate) and decrease the odds of an extinction-level event wiping out life on this planet.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, we already knew everything about it anyway here on /.

      Some IT microbe from the Santa Clara County are near impossible to get rid of. They eat anything, IT closet spare parts, ethyl alcohol, etc.

    3. Re:So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are confused! TFA is about microbes and you reply with an argument about the Santa Clara County macrobe, so called because of its macroscopic size.

    4. Re:So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I once observed pseudomonas aeruginosa survive under 95% ethanol for over a week.

    5. Re:So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I guess it is just going to show that; size doesn't matter, the same principle can still prevail both in the microscopic and macroscopic worlds.

    6. Re:So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just in case anybody wonders, here is a picture of the subject:
      https://ibb.co/gVad65

    7. Re: So IOW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hell, i survived far stranger things on ethanol, no matter the percentage. also: woooosh.

    8. Re:So IOW by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      Well, I guess it is just going to show that; size doesn't matter, the same principle can still prevail both in the microscopic and macroscopic worlds.

      "It's not how long you make it, it's how you make it long" g. carlin

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
    9. Re:So IOW by mentil · · Score: 1

      According to Soviet panspermists, Mars terraforms YOU!

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    10. Re:So IOW by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      So nature finds a way. The overuse of anti-bacterial cleaners has bred a line of immune microbes.

    11. Re:So IOW by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      yeah we're creating our own version of The Andromeda Strain.

  2. They were out of lemon Pledge by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Consuela was out of lemon Pledge, so me no work.

    1. Re:They were out of lemon Pledge by sysrammer · · Score: 1

      no...

      --
      His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  3. clean rooms aren't sterile environments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've worked in cleanrooms, and you're usually worried about dust and dirt particles being below whatever threshold is set.

    I've never worked in an environment where surfaces should be sterilized, but I would imagine you don't want bacteria but they aren't so worried about dust and dirt particles so long as they are sterile. (i.e an operating room)

    1. Re:clean rooms aren't sterile environments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are different types of cleanrooms.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level

  4. So Basically we contamineted Mars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nice one humans!

    1. Re: So Basically we contamineted Mars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just as well, saves the debate about not sending humans to Mars because they will contaminate it. And, each lander sent has looked for life and found nothing conclusive

  5. Many Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are tons of things that 70% ethanol will not kill. There is more than one way to kill microbes: chlorhexidine gluconate, quaternary ammonium compounds, advanced hydrogen peroxide compounds, peracetic acids, silver compounds, UV, phenolics, alcohols, chlorine and iodine compounds. Now which ones of those won't mess up your spacecraft... that is a different issue.

  6. So by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    According to one science fiction story, we all evolved from bacteria from a space dog dump let out by a stopping saucer.

    So don't be too worried about it, indeed don't pooh pooh the idea.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  7. Good news for environmenalists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Degrading waste plastics may be just a genemod away,