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Terrestrial bacteria can grow on nutrients from space:
In the past decade, there has been renewed thinking about human missions to the moon and perhaps even to Mars. Inevitably, terrestrial microorganisms on the bodies of astronauts, spaceships or equipment will come into contact with extraterrestrial environments. Researchers from the Radboudumc describe in an article in Astrobiology that bacteria can survive on an "extraterrestrial diet," which affected their pathogenic potential
[...] For this study, four non-fastidious environment-derived bacterial species with pathogenic features were selected, including Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. To determine whether extraterrestrial survival and growth were possible, the researchers developed a minimal bacterial diet based on nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, iron and water to which carbohydrates found in carbonaceous meteorites were added. The four bacterial species were shown to survive and multiply on this minimal diet.
Journal Reference:
Jorge Domínguez-Andrés et al. Growth on Carbohydrates from Carbonaceous Meteorites Alters the Immunogenicity of Environment-Derived Bacterial Pathogens, Astrobiology (DOI: 10.1089/ast.2019.2173)
The guide to being a hitchhiker in the galaxy says to be a bacterium.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by shrewdsheep on Thursday May 28 2020, @11:15AM (4 children)
Also on earth there are incredibly harsh environments (cold, hot, high pressure, acidic ...). Go there and look for the toughies. You will find bacteria and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known to be among them. Specifically, it is known to be autotrophic, i.e. it can assemble stuff from the ground up. So I fail to see the novelty of the finding, maybe someone with more subject knowledge can chime in.
More interesting to me would be to investigate the physical environment: vacuum, UV radiation, low and high temperatures. Also of interest would be the germs who cannot make it, i.e. which bacteria can we safely ignore.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2020, @02:57PM (2 children)
OK I'll get right on that.
In the meantime, perhaps we can start sending human "toughies" to similar places (Siberia, Guantanamo, etc.) and see which ones make it. You know, real science.
(Score: 2) by Kalas on Friday May 29 2020, @05:34PM (1 child)
We're not already doing that? I thought that was the whole reason New Jersey exists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2020, @10:55AM
Now, now. That was by choice.
New Jersey has more toxic waste dumps and California has more lawyers because New Jersey got first pick.
*rimshot* -- Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week*. Try the prime rib!
*Actually, I'm never going to leave. Lucky you. ;)
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday May 28 2020, @05:43PM
I was thinking much the same thing. I suspect the study is aimed at the hardheaded skeptical sorts. Still, even though it seems obvious that microbes can work with material from space, and that atoms and molecules are much the same whether from space or Earth, differing only in the proportions of isotopes, can't be certain until it's actually done.