Martian soil and UV radiation: microbial viability assessment on spacecraft surfaces

Abstract

Terrestrial microbes may reach the surface of Mars via inadequately sterilized spacecraft landers, rovers, or through accidental impact of orbiters. This investigation was initiated to determine if Martian dust could protect spores of Bacillus subtilis on spacecraft surfaces from the UV radiation that falls onto the Martian surface. A monolayer of washed spores of Bacillus subtilis strain HA 101 were placed onto the surface of aluminum coupons and dried at 30°C for 18 h. After drying dust prepared from sieved simulated Mars soil standard (Mars JSC-1 obtained from NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA), or Fe-montmorillonite was placed on top of the spore monolayer of some of the coupons to a thickness of either 1 mm, 0.5 mm, 100 or 12 μm . The coupons were then exposed to UV radiation from a deuterium lamp (Oriel model 6316) and samples collected periodically to determine survival. The total number of surviving spores was determined using the most probable number (MPN) method. As a control, samples were prepared in triplicate as described above except that the coupons were not exposed to UV radiation. The data indicate that an unprotected monolayer of spores will be killed within minutes when exposed to the UV radiation flux falling onto the surface of Mars, but that if they are covered by either an additional layer of spores or a few microns of dust they will survive for long periods of time. This implies that spore-forming microbes on spacecraft surfaces can be protected by a thin layer of Mars dust and can potentially contaminate the planet.