The stowaways who smelled the first space station

HHumans are bags of fragile bones and organs that must be stored in precisely the right conditions to thrive. But we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of those conditions, daring to see how far we can go: hottest, coldest, lowest, highest we can endure, using our ingenuity to design ways to survive.

Fungi doesn’t have to be that smart. Some fungi can survive in extreme temperatures and without oxygen.

They can lie dormant and wait for the right conditions to wake up, warm up, spread. They can grow in soil, in wood, on plastic, on pollution. Why couldn’t they survive in space?

We already know that they can – at least, within the confines of man-made space stations, where many types of fungi have grown successfully, sometimes in a monitored manner as part of experiments to determine the viability of different types of life under these conditions. , and sometimes . . . not.

Me, the first modular space station, was built in low orbit around the earth in 1986 – what a scientific and engineering feat – and it functioned as a research laboratory until its orbit disintegrated in 2001. In my mind , when I think about it, I imagine Me like a perfect, clean, innovative and experimental environment. But it was not; those who visited Me commented that he was first touched by the scent. British chemist Steve Pearce described it as a mixture of sweaty feet, nail polish remover, body odor and vodka, among others. He then attempted to recreate the scent as part of a NASA experiment. This unique scent could be due, in part, to the stowaways on board Me it came as a shock to the astronauts: bacteria and fungi, found living happily behind panels, on spacesuits, on cables and around window frames. The discovery led to a flurry of news articles at the time. If you’ve ever wondered if fear in the media has spread to mushrooms, then take a look at the BBC News article from Thursday March 8, 2001, titled “Mutant Fungus from Space”. It only needs an exclamation point or two to turn it into a 1950s sci-fi movie. Me about to return to Earth, the article evokes the idea that the fungi on board will have mutated to the point of being able to cause “serious damage to humanity”.

The International Space Station, first launched in 1998, has had similar fungal problems, and one study suggests that these fungi containing large amounts of melanin thrive under space station conditions, being better suited to withstand harsh conditions. high radiation levels. The kinds of fungi that survived in the ruins of the Chernobyl reactor, such as Cladosporium, were also discovered aboard the ISS, as well as Penicillium and Aspergillus. The possibility of a mutation, caused by the effect of radiation, remains under investigation, although the real area of ​​concern continues to be the fungi that can survive outside of gear, exposed to open space. , rather than within the human confines of a space station. An organism that grows on solar panels, for example, or penetrates the outer sections of a multi-million dollar vessel, to wreak havoc in those very places that cannot be reached without extreme difficulty, could jeopardize the future of space travel.

This is not a purely theoretical area of ​​concern. There are fungi that, surprisingly, survive in open space. A 2009 Russian experiment on the space exhibit called Biorisk found that the two Aspergillus versicolor and Penicillium expansum underwent changes while exposed for seven months that helped them survive, increasing their melanin layers to resist radiation.

If a space station makes happy mushrooms, and even open space doesn’t necessarily present a problem, then where next? NASA investigated the possibility of using mycelia to create living shelters on Mars using melanin-rich fungi to absorb radiation and protect the human inhabitants inside. If mycelia can create strong and flexible structures on Earth, they may well offer such possibilities elsewhere, and they could be built, efficiently grown, on site, making them easier to transport. They also offer the proposition of easy and organic disposal after use, putting little pressure on the foreign environment.

A mycelial focus on Mars – a magnificent achievement for both humans and fungi, if the success of a species lies in its ability to adapt to the most difficult conditions. This is exactly what we both did: we come out of our planet, in our rockets, with our plans. We are both destined to spread. And we will eventually and inevitably break down.

Extract of The Secret Life of Mushrooms: Discoveries from a Hidden World by Aliya Whiteley (Pegasus Books).