Resistant spores of bacillus subtilis have spent 22 months in
the 'EXPOSE-R' test container outside the International Space
Station (ISS). For the first time during a long-duration
mission, they were mixed with artificial meteorite dust and
exposed to the harsh conditions of outer space. Scientists at
the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und
Raumfahrt; DLR) are now determining precisely how many of these
spores have survived their stay in space. If it turns out that
the meteorite dust was able to shield the spores from the
hostile space environment, microorganisms may be capable of
surviving in meteorites for long periods of time and travelling
from one planet to another. EXPOSE-R with microorganisms outside
the ISS After disassembly – EXPOSE-R on board the space station
Over the next few months, Gerda Horneck, director of the Spores
in artificial meteorites (SPORES) experiment, and her colleagues
from the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine will examine almost
300 samples containing these