Technical Paper
Passive Experimental Microbial Systems: A Research Platform for the Analysis of Microbial Community Assembly in Spaceflight Ecosystems
2003-07-07
2003-01-2510
Extension of human habitation into space requires that humans carry with them many of the microorganisms with which they coexist on Earth. Whether microbes are present by design as constructed communities in bioregenerative life support systems or by accident as hitchhikers attached to human, plant, and spacecraft surfaces, the microbial ecosystems of Earth will be present in space. But how may the space environment affect the interaction of microbial communities? Given the potential for rapid change in populations of microorganisms through mutation, recombination, and natural selection (processes accelerated under space conditions of variable microgravity and elevated background radiation), it will be necessary to understand both the pattern and process of community assembly and evolution in the space environment.