But experiments designed to test fungal growth in microgravity are set to begin at the end of this year. The statement clarifies that this research did not address the ability of Aspergillus and Penicillium to withstand the brutal combination of radiation, vacuum, cold and low gravity that characterizes space. Just because the fungi can tolerate radiation doesn't make them invulnerable, and space is still a harsh environment. Even the space station benefits somewhat from this protective blanket, but a spacecraft going to the moon or to Mars would be exposed.Īs NASA gears up for the Artemis mission to return humans to the moon by the year 2024 - with stated intentions to then make a Mars-shot perhaps a decade later - humans and their spacecraft may spend longer periods of time within this dangerous environment.Īnd if the fungi survive trips to other worlds, scientists will need to develop measures to prevent these spores from contaminating other celestial bodies. (Image credit: NASA)Ĭortesão blasted the Aspergillus and Penicillium fungal spores with massive doses of ionizing radiation that is present in space but that doesn't reach Earth's surface because we are cocooned in a magnetic field. Mold growing on the International Space Station.
