One of the primary objectives of space exploration that often gets overlooked is the intense effort that goes into ensuring Earth microbes don\u2019t contaminate planetary objects, also called forward contamination. This is done to prevent contaminating any potential life that might be present could get killed off my Earth microbes and scientists don\u2019t want to make false discoveries. While space radiation and extreme temperatures often kill off any pesky microbes that hitch a ride on spacecraft, there remains a longstanding knowledge gap regarding whether microbes could survive the lunar polar regions due to its deep craters and varying topography.<\/p>\n
Now, a team of researchers from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the NASA Johnson Space Center might be one step closer to answering whether astronaut microbes could survive the Moon\u2019s polar regions. These findings were recently published<\/a> in Science Advances and could help scientists, mission planners, and future astronauts develop methods for addressing microbes during long-term missions to the Moon and beyond.<\/p>\n To accomplish this, the researchers analyzed several organisms that have been found on Earth and in space to ascertain whether they could survive in the lunar polar regions. These included Aspergillus niger, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Deinococcus radiodurans, and several species of Fusarium. Aspergillus niger has been sampled on the International Space Station with other experiments revealing it can survive in space. Along with space, Aspergillus niger can survive in warm, deep locations within temperature ranges of 6 \u00b0C to 47 \u00b0C (43 \u00b0F to 117 \u00b0F) but often thrives between 35 \u00b0C to 37 \u00b0C (95 \u00b0F to 99 \u00b0F). <\/p>\n The researchers tested the resilience of these organisms in laboratory conditions designed to mimic the lunar south polar regions of Nobile Rim, Connecting Ridge, and De Gerlache Rim. They combined this data with topographic models showing the distribution of radiation across the lunar surface. In the end, the researchers found that the lunar south pole could host several locations where microbes could survive, specifically noting that Aspergillus niger could potentially survive given its resistance to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we think of the Moon, we don\u2019t typically think of biology,\u201d said Dr. Heather Graham<\/a>, who is an organic chemist at NASA Goddard whose research focuses on identifying \u201cagnostic biosignatures\u201d, or biology that doesn\u2019t look like Earth\u2019s, and is a co-author on the study. \u201cBut the Moon is a place where a cell can survive, so our first exploration of these sites should pay extra attention to our microbial hitchhikers and work hard to characterize lunar chemistry before our visits change what we will find.\u201d<\/p>\n