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Preventing the Forward Contamination of Europa (2000) / Chapter Skim
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3 Life in Extreme Environments
Pages 13-16

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From page 13...
... Microbial ecologists have found them in most cold environments, even in the harsh desert environments of Antarctica.3 These organisms can also be found in permafrost as well as in the deeper layers of ice cores, indicating that they have the ability to survive for extremely long periods of time. Laboratory studies indicate that not all species can survive the freezing and thawing, process, and many species are killed when frozen, especially if they are in the exponential growth phase.
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From page 14...
... Despite the discrediting of the oft-repeated claim that live bacteria were recovered from Surveyor 3's camera after surviving on the Moon's surface from April 20, 1967, to November 20, 1969, experiments conducted aboard a variety of spacecraft including the European Retrievable Carrier and the Long Duration Exposure Facility indicate that a variety of common terrestrial bacteria are able to withstand the space environment for periods as long as 6 years.'3 '4 Since the radiation-resistance characteristics of many common organisms (and most extremophiles) are unknown, it is conceivable that many bacteria classified as desiccationand/or radiation-resistant will survive in extraterrestrial environments.
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From page 15...
... While all metabolic activity occurs at ~10 °C, the optimum temperatures for organisms, as measured in the laboratory, range from 15 to 25 °C, temperatures rarely reached in the Antarctic. Thus microorganisms in Antarctic rocks live near the lower limits of their physiological potential, and they have no reserves to compensate for changes in the environment, should conditions deteriorate.
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From page 16...
... Battista, "Radioresistance of Deinococcus radiodurans: Functions Necessary to Survive Ionizing Radiation Are Also Necessary to Survive Prolonged Desiccation," Journal of Bacteriology 177: 5232, 1996.
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Key Terms

  • maximum growth
  • extreme environments
  • terrestrial organisms
  • organic matter
  • cold environments

  • cryptoendolithic environments
  • deinococcus radiodurans
  • physical conditions
  • microbial growth
  • forward contamination

  • ionizing radiation
  • unfrozen water
  • ice shell
  • liquid water
  • extraterrestrial environments

  • minimum temperature
  • antarctic journal
  • viable bacteria
  • growth appears
  • common terrestrial

  • optimum growth
  • reach subsurface
  • viable microbial
  • antarctic rocks
  • exponential growth

  • species decreases
  • environments reveals
  • energy source
  • exposure facility
  • activity occurs


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