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Determination of the microbial diversity of spacecraft assembly, testing and launch facilities: First results of the ESA project MiDiv by P. Rettberg; D. Fritze; S. Verbarg; J. Nellen; G. Horneck; E. Stackebrandt; G. Kminek is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Determination of the microbial diversity of spacecraft assembly, testing and launch facilities: First results of the ESA project MiDiv about?

In the near future, an increasing number of in situ life detection and sample return missions to planets and other solar system bodies will be launched. The demand to control spacecraft-carried microbial contamination becomes obvious. COSPAR (Committee of Space Research) has defined guidelines and bioburden limits for different types of missions and target bodies. The first step in the implementation of these planetary protection guidelines encompasses a qualitative and quantitative inventory of the bioburden of spacecraft assembly facilities. With information about the composition of these microbial communities the development and/or optimization of adequate cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization procedures for spacecraft preparation before launch will be possible. In the ESA project MiDiv, we started to investigate the diversity of cultivable microorganisms found on spacecraft and spacecraft assembly halls using the satellites SMART-1 and ROSETTA as test objects. The analyses to date include cultivation of microorganisms by varying pH, temperature, oxygen, and pasteurization. A culture collection of bacterial isolates and a database of 16S RNA gene sequences have been establis

Author

P. Rettberg; D. Fritze; S. Verbarg; J. Nellen; G. Horneck; E. Stackebrandt; G. Kminek

Publisher

Elsevier Science; Elsevier ; Elsevier Ltd.; Elsevier BV (ISSN 0273-1177)

Published

2006

Language

EN