ISS plankton? Wait a second!?! So, scientists have found protists, archaea, algae, and bacteria living in seas on the International Space Station (ISS)? This is incredible!
Baffling is that these organisms have resisted space vacuum, freezing temperatures, lack of oxygen and cosmic radiation. WOW!
As funny as it sounds, traces of plankton and other micro algae have been discovered living on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS).
This find is unique! It was made possible during a routine spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts Olek Artemyev and Alexander Skvortsov as they cleaned the windows on the Russian segment of the ISS.
But how did they arrive there?
This is currently baffling scientists and astronauts. This type of microorganisms weren’t carried in the spacecraft. Moreover, they are not native to Baikonur (where the Russian modules take off). So what the heck?
Scientists believe they were blown there by air currents on Earth. Pretty weird no?
Are there other things growing in and out the space station?
Yes, other vegetables are growing on the ISS. A plant growth chamber called Veggie was delivered to the International Space Station on the SpaceX-3 resupply mission aboard the Dragon capsule. The Veg-01 plant experiment, containing red lettuce leaf seeds will be activated in Veggie in the space station and growth will be monitored. Learn more about how Veggie was set up in this NASA video:
Now let’s go back to the point! It would be interesting if NASA could corroborate these first surprising ISS plankton results by analyzing the material collected on the windows of the American side of ISS.
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