For ages, we lived in the illusion that ours is the only planet habitable enough to act as a host to living organisms. But lately, researchers have been spending time and money to disprove this and search for signs of living organisms on other planets, or as we like to refer to them, alien-life.
But, that all may change soon as a Russian cosmonaut has found signs of living bacteria on the International Space Station. Anton Shkaplerov, an ISS expedition flight engineer said that the bacteria were not present at the time of launch in 1998.
He’s of the opinion that they probably flew in somewhere from space. the organisms were found when they took samples of the station’s hull. The samples were taken from the obscure parts of the station and where waste accumulates.
According to a report in the Dailymail, Shkaplerov who will take his third trip to the space station as part of the Expedition 54 crew, in December spoke at length about the discovery and said,
“It turns out that somehow these swabs reveal bacteria that were absent during the launch of the ISS module, that is, they have come from outer space and settled along the external surface. They are being studied so far and it seems that they pose no danger.”
The analysis of the bacteria is currently carried out to determine whether they really are extra-terrestrial in nature. There have been instances where some bacteria originating from Earth (specifically, Madagascar) has survived in the vacuum of space after being lifted off our planet. This phenomenon is known as ‘ionosphere lift’.
We are now waiting with bated breath for the final verdict regarding the bacteria found on the space station. Maybe, there really is a ‘Jadoo’ somewhere.
