Bacteria On Mars: Potential Health Risks for Future Interplanetary Explorers

KOMPAS.com – Future interplanetary explorers should be careful. Why?

Bacteria brought to Mars via the human body are not only able to survive the harsh conditions of the Martian surface but also have the potential to reproduce.

Also read: Why Choose to Build a Colony on Mars instead of the Moon?

This was revealed after researchers conducted a recent experiment.

They exposed four human disease microbes to a simulated Mars-like environment; with lack of water, low atmospheric pressure, deadly ultraviolet radiation.

Experimental results showed the bacteria remained viable over varying periods of time and in some cases even grew in imitation Martian sand.

Bacteria that breed on Mars

Quoting Science News, Monday (5/2/2024) these findings could also have implications for the health of astronauts and efforts to prevent contamination of other planets.

Previously, researchers wanted to understand the ability of microbes to survive on Mars with the help of extremophile organisms or organisms that live on Earth with lots of radiation, salt, temperature changes or drought.

But in 2020, a team of scientists discovered that several species of bacteria that live on or in the human body are capable of growing in media that resemble the nutrient-poor conditions found in meteorites.

This has led some researchers to wonder how the bacteria could survive in the unforgiving Martian environment.

Researchers then placed colonies of bacteria Burkholderia cepacia, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens into boxes simulating Martian conditions and regolith, or soil like that found on the surface of Mars.

Also read: How Can Insects Help Grow Plants on Mars?

At first, researchers thought that regolith would have a toxic effect, thereby limiting bacterial growth. But instead, they saw different things.

Three of the bacteria survived the experiment, especially P. aeruginosa and even grew for up to 21 days.

This finding is of particular concern. The reason is, these four microbes, which are usually harmless, can become pathogenic when humans are stressed. This could certainly have implications for astronauts’ health.

To prevent undesirable things, researchers revealed that human missions to Mars must carry lots of antibiotics to deal with disease-causing bacteria that survive and may mutate on the Martian surface which could re-infect humans.

Samantha Waters, a microbiologist at Mercer University in Atlanta, who was not involved in the experiment, stressed that human ingenuity can hopefully find ways to mitigate the problem that should not discourage sending humans into space.

“Ultimately, we want to move forward and explore more of the Solar System,” he said.

The findings were published in Astrobiology.

Also read: A substance that accelerates oxygen production from water on Mars has been discovered

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2024-02-06 08:34:00
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