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NASA clean rooms breed hardy bacteria

Catalogue made of bugs that survive preparations for space

The ultra-clean facilities used to assemble NASA's spacecraft are inhabited by some hardy bacteria, which could be hitchhiking their way to space.

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Posted by Katharine Sanderson on September 4, 2007 06:02 PM |

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I wonder how is the human effluents disposed of, continuously, from the I.S.S. Brought back to earth periodically?

Posted by: agaram | September 4, 2007 11:19 PM

The Gaia Hypothesis has shown that there is no life elsewhere in this solar system, because no other planet (other than our own) has a homeostatic atmosphere. The Fermi Paradox shown that there is no intelligent life elsewhere in our galaxy.
One of the properties of life is that it expands into any environment open to it. It seems appropriate to sterilize our early probes, as we're still exploring, and we don't want to contaminate our sensors. However, if human beings do not help Gaia expand into our solar system, and then our galaxy, then we're just keeping her sterile. This does not sound like a good thing.

Posted by: Tihamer Toth-Fejel | September 5, 2007 07:30 AM

I like how in the clean rooms technicians and researchers wear their protective gowns. I am shocked that quite a few do not know how the mask is to be worn. On two occasions, I have spotted - before Phoenix's launch and when the returned Stardust's aerogel was first viewed - peoples noses sticking out above their mask inches away from aerogel or vechicle!! Now tell me to the contrary, that this is a clean room and that comet dust is not harmful or that contamination of green poggies on vechicles doesn't happen?

Posted by: Adam | September 11, 2007 12:00 PM

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