Microbe space exposure experiments at International Space Station (ISS) in the mission Tanpopo

Kawaguchi, Yuko*; Yang, Y.*; Kawashiri, Narutoshi*; Shiraishi, Keisuke*; Sugino, Tomohiro*; Takahashi, Yuta*; Tanigawa, Yoshiaki*; Narumi, Issei; Sato, Katsuya; Hashimoto, Hirofumi*; Yoshida, Satoshi*; Kobayashi, Kensei*; Nakagawa, Kazumichi*; Yokobori, Shinichi*; Yamagishi, Akihiko*

spores and are known by their extremely high resistance against UV, rays and other radiations. and , that were novel deinococcal species isolated from high altitude, showed higher resistance to UV and ionizing radiations than . If microbes could be found present even at the higher altitude of low earth orbit, the fact would endorse the possible interplanetary migration of terrestrial life. We proposed the Tanpopo mission to examine possible interplanetary migration of microbes on Japan Experimental Module of the International Space Station (ISS). Dried vegetative cells of and our novel deinococcal species are candidates for the exposure experiment. We are now testing survivals of deinococcal species under the harsh environmental conditions simulating ISS environmental conditions.