CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) conducted a study to help devise strategies for the disinfection of space stations to minimise the potential impact of microbes on the health of astronauts. The peer-reviewed work published in the international journal ‘Microbiome’ focused on the interactions between microbes in the International Space Station (ISS).
According to a statement issued by IIT-Madras, the crew during spaceflight may have altered immunity and limited access to terrestrial medical facilities. Hence, studying microbes inhabiting the space station is important to understand the risks associated with short-term and long-term space travel on health.
The study was motivated by the earlier observations of the dominance of Klebsiella pneumoniae pathogen (known to cause pneumonia and other nosocomial infections) on the surfaces of the ISS. The researchers analysed the microbial sample data taken across three space flights at seven locations in the ISS. They discovered that Klebsiella pneumoniae is beneficial to other microbes present on the ISS.
“The interaction between the microbes is also affected by these adverse environmental conditions in space, necessitating such studies. More knowledge on the microbes in space can help devise appropriate safety measures for long-term space travel,” said Venkateswaran, a senior research scientist at JPL. He collaborated with Karthik Raman, associate professor at the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta school of biosciences, IIT-M.
This study provides evidence of why it is important to monitor the microbiome of the ISS. Keeping an eye on what microbes are on the ISS and learning how they adapt in micro-gravity to help protect astronaut health, added the statement.