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SpaceX Rocket Carries Chernobyl Fungi Into Space

by Maryann Villavert

Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Ecology Department In The Press

Cladosporium cladosporioides (source Wikimedia Commons)

Cladosporium cladosporioides (source Wikimedia Commons)

The eight species of fungi on board, which are descended from microbes collected at Chernobyl, may one day lead the way to a “sunblock” that could protect human space travelers from the harmful radiation of space. The microbes were originally collected by Tamas Torok a scientist affiliated with the Climate and Ecosystems Sciences Division.

Tamas Torok

Tamas Torok

“Some types of this fungus [Cladosporium cladosporioides] are able to resist and even thrive on high levels of radiation, thanks to their dark pigmentation. The melatonin that causes that dark coloration helps to scavenge for the free radicals that cause damage to cells,” says Torok.

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule successfully connected to the International Space Station on Wednesday (7/20) where an experiment, using the fungi selected by Clay Wang (University of Southern California) and his colleagues, is now in progress. The planned return is 9/1/16.

Press

SpaceX Rocket Carries Chernobyl Fungi Into Space – Today at Berkeley Lab, July 28, 2016
SpaceX Rocket Carries Chernobyl Fungi Into Space – Popular Science, June 21, 2016