WASHINGTON DC – NASA is at the forefront of exploring the universe, and even they can make some mistakes that can cause disasters and destroy untouched planets. Every space trip has to go through a comprehensive evaluation of the plan, the structure, the possible scenarios, and the cleaning of the spaceship to not cause any harm or colonize other planets with microorganisms from Earth, leaving behind signs that we’ve explored other worlds, but sometimes these organisms can resist the impossible.
Former NASA mission exposed
Before launching a spacecraft, the project spends years in development to cover every topic, scenario, and potential issue possible – but sometimes things get out of hand. Recently, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was testing a different number of landing profiles, but the test went awry – the spacecraft exploded before making the last burn and splashdown in the Gulf.
Elon Musk stated that the problem with the ship was caused by leaks that led to a loss of pressure in the main tank in the re-entry phase. The test flight had a secondary objective: launching a satellite for Starlink. However, the top of the spaceship, where the satellite was located, did not deploy. SpaceX’s spacecraft can undergo a different type of analysis before flying since it’s not going to another planet, but NASA’s exploration spacecraft cannot. Back in 2007, the company failed to make the Phoenix Mars Lander 100% safe.
Scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, along with researchers from India and Saudi Arabia,discovered 26 extremophiles – microorganisms with strong resistance to inhospitable environments – in the clean room used to prepare the Phoenix Mars Lander 18 years after it was launched. The discovery indicates some of it probably went to the Red Planet.
In order to prevent Earth’s microorganisms from going to space, NASA has a protocol of cleaning the spacecraft in decontaminated environments called “clean rooms,” designed specifically to prevent microbial life from getting a ride to space.
Researchers found multiple species in a clean room
These microorganisms are very resistant and can be found in the most extreme environments. The scientists found 53 genetic variants of 26 never-before-seen species of extremophiles. When they examined the genomes of these newfound species, they found genes linked to DNA repair, which means they can heal as fast as they get harmed. The lead author of the study, Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a former scientist at NASA, stated that these organisms have the potential to “revolutionize the life sciences, bioengineering, and interplanetary exploration.”
The importance of decontaminating the environment
Spacecraft systems are built to work independently, without any interference from dust, microbes, or other contaminants that might lead a mission to fail before reaching its destination. Another motivating factor for the meticulous analysis of the spacecraft structure before being launch to space by NASA is that even a single Earth microbe could cause false results in collected materials from other planets, like Mars – if a microorganism common to our planet goes to Mars, not only it can change the results from collected data, but also leave behind traces of life from other ecosystems.
The rovers don’t come back to Earth
Not a single rover sent to Mars has returned, but if it did, it would need to go through a decontamination process in order not to contaminate Earth with a microorganism unknown to humans. In 1967, during the Cold War, the Outer Space Treaty was created in order to make space exploration exclusive for peaceful purposes. The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union (now Russia) were the first countries to sign, and two years later, NASA landed on the moon – and they can go back before 2030, if China doesn’t get there first.
This story was published on Ecoportal
