The cool part about science is that you can ask questions like what happens if you stick some moss spores on the outside of the International Space Station, and then get funding for answering said question. This was roughly the scope of the experiment that [Chang-hyun Maeng] and colleagues ran back in 2022, with their findings reported in iScience.
Used as moss specimen was Physcomitrium patens, a very common model organism. After previously finding during Earth-based experiments that the spores are the most resilient, these were subsequently transported to the ISS where they found themselves placed in the exposure unit of the Kibo module. Three different exposure scenarios were attempted for the spores, with all exposed to space, but one set kept in the dark, another protected from UV and a third set exposed to the healthy goodness of the all-natural UV that space in LEO has to offer.
After the nine month exposure period, the spores were transported back to Earth, where the spores were allowed to develop into mature P. patens moss. Here it was found that only the spores which had been exposed to significant UV radiation – including UV-C unfiltered by the Earth’s atmosphere – saw a significant reduction in viability. Yet even after nine months of basking in UV-C, these still had a germination rate of 86%, which provides fascinating follow-up questions regarding their survivability mechanisms when exposed to UV-C as well as a deep vacuum, freezing temperatures and so on.
And… where is the hack?
Once we incorporate “survivability mechanisms” into anything on earth you’ll see the hack. Considering how much of a mess we’re making the planet, every bit counts.
It’s you
@Leonardo, EVERYTHING on the ISS is a hack. Breathing. Urination. Eating. And all the science experiments.
Yup, every engineer’s tool box has this “hack”.
https://www.bgr.com/science/iss-duct-tape-dispenser-nasa/
No, everything on the ISS is not hack. Do not muddy up and conflate definitions of “hack” and “invention”. I’m sure the ISS has plenty of hacks within but its largely built of and filled with purpose-built inventions.
Not even moss, but moss spores…
So now I wonder could these survive on ejecta from a collision between an asteroid and other body, potentially seeding (sporing?) a planet
Legal freeview on Pluto.tv:
Outer Limits (1963)
S1E22
Specimen: Unknown
Fast-growing space plants take root aboard a space station, imperiling five hapless astronauts with aggressively dispersed spores that destroy hemoglobin.
So now we have data to sugest that moss spores exposed to intense uv are less viable than ones that aren’t? I don’t even have a high school diploma and I could have told you that.
Wonder how many taxpayer dollars went to this braniac scheme 🙄