[FPSPACE] Astronauts vs. fungus

[JamesOberg@aol.com]

Astronauts vs. fungus: Orbiting spacecraft turns out to be food for 
aggressive mold
By Gareth Cook, Boston Globe Staff, 10/1/2000

    The history books will never record it, but life in outer space was
discovered about 12 years ago by a Russian cosmonaut as he was gazing out a
window of the space station Mir.
    Squinting to set his sights on the passing Earth below, this space 
explorer
instead focused on a thick living mat that had made its way up the window's
hard quartz surface, nearly obliterating any view.
     A microbiologist, Natalia Novikova, eventually identified the growth as 
an
aggressive space fungus. And since then, she's had her hands full examining
the various forms of fungi found growing aboard the ship. The aging Mir, it
turns out, is nearly overrun with the stuff. Visitors have found numerous
fungal patches with hues between green and black, feeding behind control
panels, slowly digesting the ship's air conditioner, communications unit,
and myriad other surfaces. Pull out an insulation panel on Mir, and you'll
probably find fungus.
     And in the heavy radiation of space, Novikova and others said, these 
fungi
could mutate into more virulent forms, possibly harming future space
travelers, or even be carried back to Earth to wreak havoc as they join the
many earthbound varieties that relentlessly attack metal, plastic and glass
surfaces.
     Scientists are discovering that ''biodegradation,'' the term used to
describe microbial damage to materials, is a far greater problem than
previously thought. Fungal infections could explain why electronics fail
more often than expected, and microbes, along with acid rain, are assaulting
famous landmarks from the Taj Mahal to the Acropolis to the cathedral in
Cologne. Just last month, China hired a Belgium company that said it would
launch a three-year program to rid the 40 varieties of mold eating away the
famed 2,200-year-old army of terra cotta warriors. The mold has attacked
1,400 of the 8,000 life-sized statues of soldiers and horses that were found
in the tomb of China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang, outside the city of Xian.
     But there's no one to call to combat space mold, and NASA is suddenly
treating the topic seriously. Decades of science fiction notwithstanding, it
now seems the great threat to space exploration comes not from
technologically advanced alien races, but from the same lowly fungi that
attack dorm-room refrigerators. With the $60 billion International Space
Station under construction, and more ambitious missions to the moon and Mars
being considered, the Mir infection has shown that fungi are surprisingly
destructive, giving off corrosive agents like acetic acid that damage
equipment and release toxins into the environment.
     Spacecraft ''are closed systems, and there is very little room for 
error,''
said Ralph Mitchell, a professor of applied biology at Harvard who has
helped NASA come to terms with the microbial threat. ''Within days, all of
the astronauts share all of the same microflora ... like children in 
kindergarten.''
     Viewed under a microscope, many fungi look harmless, beautiful even, with
long threads weaving a living filigree. But, unchecked, they happily destroy
the things we build.
     Mitchell, in research for NASA, said that his team placed fungus on 
plastics
the agency was considering for the International Space Station, and watched
the effects. Over time, the plastics bubbled, released fumes, and broke off
in thin strips. Placed on metals, he said, fungi can plunge through the
surface, weakening it with pits and microscopic fissures.
     On space missions, the potential problems multiply because of increased
radiation that can cause the fungi to mutate into more dangerous forms.
Francis Cucinotta, manager of the radiation health office at NASA's Johnson
Space Center, said he published a scientific paper in 1995 that found that
about one-tenth of 1 percent of bacterial spores would mutate after a year
of the kind of radiation experienced on a mission to Mars.
     The problem, he cautioned, was poorly understood, and nobody could say 
how
many of the mutations would pose a threat.
     But astronauts are also less able to fight off infections, doctors said,
especially on long missions. The stresses placed on their bodies, including
weightlessness, psychological pressure, and trouble sleeping, can all
degrade the immune system.
     ''If the microflora is altered into some kind of superbug, and the
astronaut's immune system is weakened, it could cause quite a problem,''
said William Shearer, a professor of pediatrics and immunology at the Baylor
College of Medicine, and the team leader in charge of immunology for the
National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
     US astronaut Jerry Linenger said that when he was on Mir in 1997, he 
found
''an overgrowth of fungus.''
     Linenger, who is a medical doctor and holds a doctorate in epidemiology,
used a standard NASA test to determine fungal counts on surfaces. For the
shuttle, he explained, the samples would be placed in a medium so their
growth could be tracked over several days. But on Mir, he said, he couldn't
do the count because the container was overgrown in half a day.
     Linenger, author of ''Off the Planet,'' a book about his experiences on 
Mir,
said that he did not see any evidence that fungi or bacteria on the craft
caused health problems. But he added that the station had ''a strong smell
of fungal contamination'' - a smell he called ''mushroomy'' in his book -
and that ''there were areas you wouldn't want to stick your hand in.''
     According to Novikova, who heads the Microbial Protection Laboratory of 
the
Russian government's Institute for Biomedical Problems, Mir's problems first
came to light with the finding of fungus on the porthole in 1988, and have
been an issue ever since.
     The fungi that did the damage, Novikova said, included members of the 
genera
Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Cladesporium - all very common on Earth.
     In July, a Web site called Space.com described some of Novikova's 
findings, 
but the results did not gain wide attention.
     NASA officials said that wherever humans go, they bring a certain amount 
of
fungus with them. They said they had not seen evidence of biodegradation on
the International Space Station, but they have put into place an
''aggressive'' prevention program. On a visit to the station this summer,
astronauts spent hours lifting out panels to search for evidence that
colonies were causing damage.
     ‘'Because of this issue on Mir, it has led us to be more aware of the 
need
to do these inspections more frequently,'' said Kyle Herring, a NASA
spokesman. 
     There is no evidence that fungi have ever affected the health of the 
crew,
or threatened the integrity of critical systems, said Jeffrey Manber,
president of MirCorp, the Amsterdam-based company that has leased the rights
to use Mir. He said that the situation hasn't threatened MirCorp's business
ventures, which include sending the winner of a sequel to the television
show ''Survivor'' to the station.
     MirCorp has undertaken a $5 million project to upgrade Mir's 
environmental
control systems, Manber said.
     When the space race began with the Russians' launch of Sputnik in 1957, 
it
was seen as an engineering challenge. But as experience accumulates,
scientists say they are coming to appreciate more and more that it is a
serious biological challenge as well. NASA's Cucinotta said that there are a
host of ''basic questions that NASA must answer before it can go to Mars.''
     But for Linenger, who was almost killed by a fire during his stay on Mir,
the lure of exploration will always outweigh dangers such as microbial
infestation. Climbing into a rocket is like ''climbing onto a pile of
explosives,'' he explained. ''There are just too many other things to worry
about.''