NASA tests space-bound rapid bacteria assay

Published 14 May 2007

Trips to Mars may expose astronauts and their equipment to dangerous bacteria and fungi

NASA has long been concerned about microorganisms in space — both the transmission of Earth bacteria to foreign soils and the corrossive effect of foreign fungi on electronics — but has long lacked a rapid assay test to detect their presence, instead relying on Earth-bound tests that can take days to culture. Now, however, those days are over now that excercises aboard the International Space Station have validated NASA’s new Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development