Rocket section for rideshare payloads. Credit: Gail Iles/RMIT University
An Australian-led study has demonstrated that bacteria and microbes essential for human health can endure the rapid acceleration and microgravity environments of space flight.
The study builds on understanding of the effect of spaceflight on life provides important insights for sending astronauts to Mars and other distant places in the solar system.
“Our research showed an important type of bacteria for our health can withstand rapid gravity changes, acceleration and deceleration,” says the study’s co-author, Professor Elena Ivanova from RMIT University.
“This means we can design better life support systems for astronauts to keep them healthy during long missions.”
In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, the researchers launched the spores of bacteria Bacillus subtilis more than 60km into the sky. Once the rocket fell back to Earth, Ivanova and the team studied how the bacteria coped outside of a controlled lab environment.
B. subtilis is a probiotic that plays an important role in human digestive functions in the intestines. It also has been proven to support the immune system with antibacterial and antiviral abilities, making it an essential bacteria for human survival.
“By ensuring these microbes can endure high acceleration, near-weightlessness and rapid deceleration, we can better support astronauts’ health and develop sustainable life support systems,” says Associate Professor Gail Iles, an RMIT space science expert.
While over 650 humans have travelled into space since 1961, there is limited research into how microbes would react to the conditions of prolonged spaceflight to Mars with its constant gravity and acceleration changes.
“Microbes play essential roles in sustaining human health and environmental sustainability, so they’re an essential factor of any long-term space mission,” says Iles.
The researchers chose to focus on B. subtilis because it is one of the toughest microbes known to scientists, providing the team with an important benchmark.
The payload section of the Suborbital Express 3 – M15 59 sounding rocket on the assembly pad. Credit: Gail Iles/RMIT University
When the rocket launched, the bacteria experienced a maximum acceleration of about 13 g which is roughly 13 times the force of gravity down on Earth. When the rocket re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, it was spinning around 220 times per second and experiencing deceleration forces of up to 30 g.
The researchers analysed their sample after it returned to Earth and observed that the bacteria spores showed no changes in their structure or ability to grow.
They suggest this indicates that the important microbe can potentially survive the journey to Mars.
“This research enhances our understanding of how life can endure harsh conditions, providing valuable insights for future missions to Mars and beyond,” says Iles.
“It broadened our understanding on the effects of long-term spaceflight on microorganisms that live in our bodies and keep us healthy.”
The researchers are hopeful that their findings will also contribute to improvements in combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria and developing new antibacterial treatments.
“Researchers and pharmaceutical companies can also use this data to conduct innovative life science experiments in microgravity,” says Ivanova.
“We’re a while away from anything like that but now we have a baseline to guide future research.”
Similarly, Iles suggests that the insight from this study could provide clues to future scientists as to how living organisms might survive and grow in the depths of space.
“Broader knowledge of microbial resilience in harsh environments could also open new possibilities for discovering life on other planets,” says Iles.
“It could guide the development of more effective life-detection missions, helping us to identify and study microbial life forms that could thrive in environments previously thought to be uninhabitable.”
The study has been published in NPJ Microgravity.