NASA to map every living organism on ISS by designing a 3-D map of its microbiome

NASA has come up with a new idea which includes mapping every single living organism that is possibly on the International Space Station (ISS). Men and women who travel to space are not the only living organisms. Each human is accompanied by approximately up to 100 trillion bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. These organisms can pose a serious threat to humans in space and also hamper their research. To study these organisms and to get to know about them, NASA will map all of these organisms. 

Humans are not the only ones to consist of microbiome. Scientists are also worried about the spacecraft’s microbiome. A spacecraft’s microbiome could prove hazardous to the health of the astronauts. According to the reports by Scientific American, in the year 2016, a team of scientists sent a culture of salmonella bacteria for an 11-day ride on the space shuttle called Atlantis. This was done to find that once the microbes returned to Earth, they more easily killed mice. As per reports, the bacteria that has slipped Earth’s bonds can also become more resistant to antibiotics, which can lead up to a disaster. The report also added that the effort at a space-based microbial census is to understand, prevent and mitigate the "dangerous outbreaks". 

Studying the samples 

The new project which has been launched by NASA’s  Jet Propulsion Laboratory and U.C San Diego can help in mitigating the microbial heat. During February, astronaut Kate Rubins swabbed 1,000 different locations throughout the ISS. The samples which were collected will be placed in cold storage. In a few months, they will be sent back to Earth, where scientists will analyze their genetic signatures and name the various microbes to build a three-dimensional map of the ISS’s full microbiome. 

Also, each swab will be capturing the trace molecules from food, oils, skin, and more. As of now, the scientists know very little about what kinds of molecules are present on the ISS that nourish the growth of different microbial communities there. The new map will help them link specific molecules to specific microbes. Once after the connection is established, the scientists can construct guidelines to promote the growth of beneficial microbes and reduce the dangerous ones. This might be as simple as utilizing specific construction materials on a spacecraft to Mars.