Hey man, can I bum a ride… to Mars?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Spacecraft cleanrooms use rigorous procedures to ensure no microbial guests stow away on missions. However, some bacteria are hard to detect, since they don’t form spores.
Madhan Tirumalai and team from the University of Houston investigated the resilience of these bacteria.
To test their survival skills, researchers starved the bacteria and put them in fatally dry conditions. Instead of dying, the bacteria went into a dormant state.
Space cleaning crews might start using a special reviving protein to catch these sleeping beauties. We love Perseverance the rover, but would prefer bacteria to persevere on Earth.
Talk about the wildest hitch-hike in the galaxy!
Reference: Tirumalai, M., Ali, S., Fox, G. E., & Widger, W. (2025). Tersicoccus phoenicis (Actinobacteria), a spacecraft clean room isolate, exhibits dormancy. Microbiology Spectrum, 13(9), e01692-25. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.01692-25