The International Space Station (ISS) has housed humans for almost 25 years, creating a unique habitat where various microbes have been evolving. Researchers, led by Rodolfo Salido, studied the microbial diversity on the ISS and discovered significant differences in bacteria presence compared to Earth. Their findings, based on swabs taken from the station, reveal that while some microbes adapt to the space conditions, many beneficial types normally found on Earth are absent. This could pose health risks for astronauts on long-term missions, highlighting the need for careful microbial management in future space exploration.
The microbes that inhabit it can directly affect astronaut health. To map the space station's microbial world, Salido and his colleagues sent swabs up to space.
Their resulting three-dimensional map of the ISS's microbial diversity shows that this orbital habitat lacks many types of bacterial life that humans normally encounter.
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