Overview
- Researchers report in Applied and Environmental Microbiology that Aspergillus calidoustus spores, recovered from NASA spacecraft cleanrooms, endured a full sequence of Mars-like tests in the first end-to-end survival study of a eukaryotic microbe.
- The team grew spores called conidia from 27 cleanroom fungi linked to the Mars 2020 build and saw broad ultraviolet resistance, with A. calidoustus lasting under low pressure, carbon‑dioxide air, and contact with Mars‑like dust.
- The spores also withstood ionizing neutron radiation as well as dry‑heat microbial reduction, a standard procedure used to sterilize hardware bound for launch.
- Only the combined punch of high radiation and extreme cold near minus 60°C consistently killed the fungus in the simulations.
- The authors say the results expose gaps in planetary‑protection rules focused on bacterial spores, raising concerns about false positives in life‑detection work and about microbes seeding colonies inside astronaut life‑support gear.