Rare new microbes

Rachael Pine

Rare New Microbe Found in Two Spacecraft Clean Rooms

           You would think that cleanrooms are clear of all viruses, bugs, and microbes etc. however you would be wrong, NASA has found a new species of microbes (Tersicoccus phoenicis) in these rooms that survive on very little nutrients. It has been found in two places on earth Florida at the Kennedy Space Center and South America at the European Space Agency facility in Kourou, French Guiana. These new bugs are berry shaped, Vaishampayan wasn’t surprised to find these new bugs he says, “We find a lot of bugs in clean rooms because we are looking so hard to find them there. The same bug might be in the soil outside the clean room but we wouldn't necessarily identify it there because it would be hidden by the overwhelming numbers of other bugs.” So it’s not a surprise or a new developed bug; this new virus has probably been around for years but we have never seen it, because of the other microbes surrounding it. 

            Its amazing to think that these microbes are being able to live in these cleanrooms with very little to live one. They clean these rooms in this way; drying, chemical cleaning, ultraviolet treatments, heating and peroxide treatments. For they to live in these spaces with very little nutrients is amazing and shows me that life will always find a way and live off of what it can find. It would be interesting to see if these microbes are deadly towards our astronauts, and if it would grow and become more prosperous or if space will cause the microbes to die.  

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106162631.htm