"ALL HAIL PLANKTON!"
Posted on 08/21/2014 4:43:10 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A Russian official claims that samples collected by cosmonauts show evidence of sea plankton on the outside of the International Space Station, news agencies are reporting.
Cosmonauts on the orbiting outpost have allegedly discovered trace amounts of sea plankton and other microscopic organisms living on the outside of the station, exposed to the vacuum of space, according to a news story quoting space station official Vladimir Solovyov.
...
It's possible that the plankton, if confirmed, could be a contaminant launched into space with the space station module, said NASA scientist Lynn Rothschild.
Previous studies have found that microorganisms can survive in outer space.
For example, tardigrades — a microscopic invertebrate found all over the world — can dehydrate and fall into a hibernation that allows them to survive in space, Rothschild said. Tardigrades (also called "water bears") are part of a group classified as "extremophiles" — organisms that can survive in even the harshest environments.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
But can they survive a weekend in Chicago?
I thought it said sex plankton. Nevermind.
"ALL HAIL PLANKTON!"
Tea Party in space ;?
A rolling space station gathers more moss.
When the find an Amanita muscaria growing out of the side of the space ship, I’ll believe it.
Who’s got the Dr Spock Hummm gif? Actually that’s a WOW !
So how are the Russians enjoying their new space station?
“Who’s got the Dr Spock Hummm gif? Actually that’s a WOW !”
It is Mr. Spock.
Dr. Spock was a child psychologist
GOOD one.
We WILL know when the vodka runs out.
Oh man I about busted my gut when I saw your response... I owe you a Krabby Patty.
Works better with the picture.
Spock is an appropriate reference here. Recall that when they found his torpedo casing coffin in the third movie it was covered by the microbes present when fired off the Enterprise at the end of the second movie. The microbes had been heavily evolved by the effects of the Genesis Planet.
Consider that the Space Shuttles that assembled most of the ISS were launched from Cape Canaveral. Which is a coastal environment. All jokes about John Kerry in a blue bunnysuit aside, there certainly were contaminants on the shuttles when they launched. Having seen Discover up close a number of times at NASM I was struck by how a lot of her exterior is covered in cloth blankets and not metal or tile. A good wind from yye sea could certainly attack plankton to her exterior. Which would then be carried into space.
Dr. Thomas Leya vom Fraunhofer IZI ist einer von mehreren nationalen und internationalen Partnern, die zusammen im BIOMEX-Projekt (Biology and Mars-Experiment) und in enger Kooperation mit seinem Kollegen Dr. Jean-Pierre de Vera vom Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtzentrum DLR, untersuchen, ob und welche Organismen extreme Weltraumbedingungen überleben. Leya leitet die Arbeitsgruppe Extremophilenforschung & Biobank sowie die Stammsammlung frostliebender Algen, Culture Collection of Cryophilic Algae, kurz CCCryo. Beim geplanten Weltraumausstieg am 18. August werden die Proben an der Außenseite der ISS in die Anlage EXPOSE-R2 positioniert und der dort herrschenden, ultravioletten und kosmischen Strahlung sowie starken Temperaturschwankungen ausgesetzt.
Dr. Thomas Leya from Fraunhofer IZI is one of several national and international partners working together in BIOMEX Project (Biology and Mars experiment) and in close cooperation with his colleague Dr. Jean-Pierre de Vera from the German Aerospace Center DLR investigate whether and which organisms survive extreme conditions in space. Leya leads the research group Extremophile Research & Biobank and the strain collection frost-loving algae, Culture Collection of Algae Cryophilic, short CCCryo. When planned spacewalk on August 18, the sample on the outside of the ISS are positioned in EXPOSE-R2's facility and exposed to the prevailing, ultraviolet and cosmic radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations.
Attach, not attack
Proof positive that 2014 will be one of the worst hurricane seasons ever. The storms are carrying sea critters all the way to space!!!
Ruskies do not wash their hands.
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