Spacecraft Cleanroom Yields 26 Unknown Bacteria

NASA holds itself to the highest standards, which makes it all the more surprising that its spacecraft assembly cleanroom was found to house 26 previously unknown species of bacteria. They design their cleanrooms to be as sterile as possible so that even the smallest contamination won’t be an addition to a potential mission into space. 

Inside NASA’s Cleanrooms: A Controlled Chaos

NASA cleanrooms are some of the most controlled environments that minimize contamination. The rooms maintain tightly controlled airflow, temperature, humidity, and particulate levels. Personnel are required to wear clean suits, and equipment must be sterilized meticulously.

Even though the cleanrooms are maintained to the highest standards, over time, a certain class of microbes, known as extremophiles, have adapted to survive and even thrive in these harsh artificial environments. 

A similar case occurred in 2007 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center when it assembled the Phoenix Mars Lander. Dozens of bacterial strains appeared, some were new species that had adapted to cleanroom standards.