Astronauts Find Living Organisms on ISS Exterior

Terry Olaes

Terry Olaes

I Used to be the [H] News Guy
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The International Space Station has some squatters. During a routine analysis of samples taken from the exterior of the ISS, astronauts found living sea(!) plankton. They already ruled out the possibility that a spacecraft inadvertently deposited the critters on the ISS surface. Share your theory with us via the comments link.

The bigger mystery is not that the plankton survived, but how they made it all the way up there, 205 miles above Earth. The scientists have already dismissed the possibility that the plankton were simply carried there on a spacecraft from Earth, as the plankton aren’t from the region where any ISS module or craft would’ve taken off. The working theory is that atmospheric currents could be scooping up the organisms then carrying them all the way to the space station, though that would mean the currents could travel an astonishing 205 miles (330 km) above the planet.
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Probably from a particularly powerful water spout (tornado over water) throwing the sea water up into high altitude in an aerosol form, and the ISS ran through it.
 
dgingeri said:
Probably from a particularly powerful water spout (tornado over water) throwing the sea water up into high altitude in an aerosol form, and the ISS ran through it.
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no wai, it's...

image.png
 
It's from all the caviar the russians bring up there.

Come to think of it, why dont we ever hear about statistics on how many gallons of urine and tons of excrements the Astronauts have let out through time ? that goes into earths atmosphere and drop on our heads ?
 
Here's a colorized electron scan of one of these plankton. Just slightly less disturbing than the aliens guy imo:

tardigrade-electron-scanning-colorized.jpg
 
JeffDC said:
Here's a colorized electron scan of one of these plankton. Just slightly less disturbing than the aliens guy imo:
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I'm going to spoil your fun here: That's a waterbear/tardigrade which is not plankton, but an animal known for surviving extreme environments, and will revive themselves after years without water. Very cool, but not invading the ISS.
 
Are you sure about that last part? This image was linked from the ExtremeTech article.
 
Grebuloner said:
I'm going to spoil your fun here: That's a waterbear/tardigrade which is not plankton, but an animal known for surviving extreme environments, and will revive themselves after years without water. Very cool, but not invading the ISS.
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+1 You beat me to it. Extremophiles.
 
JeffDC said:
Are you sure about that last part? This image was linked from the ExtremeTech article.
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From the article:

"The organisms found on the ISS aren’t tardigrades..."

They mention Tardigrades as an example of organisms which could survive in an environment like that, or at least survive a long-term exposure to it. The article specifically states that what they found on the ISS(or might have found, I guess) are not Tardigrades.
 
He only "believes" in them because he isn't allowed access to the ones in Area 51. Some other G8 cabinet-ranking officials actually "know" about them ;)
 
In all seriousness, that is fricken awesome! No air, and alive!
 
They say the plankton aren't from an area where a craft would have taken off, but the ISS was partly assembled using the space shuttle, no? The booster rockets to the shuttle splashed down in the ocean, and were re-used numerous times. That means they would have picked up plankton before being recovered. The boosters then being reused, some of the plankton could have shaken loose from the boosters and attached to the shuttle exterior during launch, then during assembly of the station, some could have come off the shuttle and attached to the ISS components.

One other explanation could be that the plankton have been pulled high up into the atmosphere through normal weather phenomena like storms and hurricanes, then blown very far by the trade winds. Any ship launched into space could have passed through a region where plankton were already airborne and they became attached to the ship that way, and then transferred onto the station exterior when an arriving capsule decelerated prior to docking.

Of course... it's possible that the plankton are being blown high into the atmosphere and then forcefully ejected from thunder clouds by means of "sprites" and "jets", which are violent electrical discharges on top of storm clouds. These could accelerate frozen water droplets to a very high velocity and send them out into near earth orbit, where solar radiation would melt them and then the station would drift through their path and pick some up that way.

Just a few idea on how the plankton could have gone from point A to point B.
 
Terry Olaes said:
The International Space Station has some squatters. During a routine analysis of samples taken from the exterior of the ISS, astronauts found living sea(!) plankton. They already ruled out the possibility that a spacecraft inadvertently deposited the critters on the ISS surface. Share your theory with us via the comments link.
Click to expand...

... somebody failed to learn about Hurricane's in grade school...
 
Gordon Freeman traveled back in time, placing plankton in the ISS surface that would be exposed to solar radiation and evolve into headcrabs, thus, setting the plot for an off Earth sequel!
Half Life 3 confirmed!
 
You think space plankton are unique. Just wait until you see the SPACE WHALES that eat them!!!
 
Did the Russians help build parts of the ISS? Maybe they used old parts from their retired submarines. :p Communist engineering is very versatile.
 
Grebuloner said:
I'm going to spoil your fun here: That's a waterbear/tardigrade which is not plankton, but an animal known for surviving extreme environments, and will revive themselves after years without water. Very cool, but not invading the ISS.
Click to expand...

Also the closest creature we found to be considered immortal.
 
Well now I know what happened to the water balloons that were launched from my slightly oversized beach slingshot.
 
fdiaz78 said:
It's a water bear.
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Was about to say...

Its one of the most hardy organisms in known existence. Can survive being completely frozen and well beyond what we consider standard boiling temp. It could easily survive space conditions (outside of extreme space weather) for years without being effected.

I think all this continued evidence that organisms can endure space's harsh conditions just lends more support to how likely it is that life is just blooming everywhere. Once it gets a foothold it seems nearly impossible to "wipe out".

Encouraging news none the less. I would bet all the money in my savings (albeit not much..) that their is life in the sub surface oceans of Europa and Enceladus too. Can't wait til we can send rovers and find what might end up being alien fish or at least plankton.
 
One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the water bears will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new water bear overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted internet personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underwater honey caves.
 
Clearly the ISS doesn't know how to secure its border.

Time to send in the NASA National Guard
 
That things nose looks wayyyyy to perfectly formed.

Looks like a little plastic gear I have sitting on my desk:eek:
 
MindBuster said:
It's from all the caviar the russians bring up there.

Come to think of it, why dont we ever hear about statistics on how many gallons of urine and tons of excrements the Astronauts have let out through time ? that goes into earths atmosphere and drop on our heads ?
Click to expand...

At least with the ISS, urine is recycled to drinking water. Fecal matter is stored with the rest of the trash and is launched back towards the atmosphere where it eventually burns. Unless it's MIR age urine that's still is floating out there or similar it seems unlikely that it's from urine.
 
There must be a way to work this into a "Global warming! We're all going to die!" narrative.
 
Holy fuck is this story for real or did it come from Fox news? Sea plankton on the exterior of the ISS. Astonishing! :eek:
 
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