From http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/The_worst_trip_around_the_world

Spare a thought for the organisms riding with a third-class ticket on the International Space Station – bolted to the outside with no protection against open space.

As part of ESA’s Expose-R2 project, 46 species of bacteria, fungi and arthropods were delivered by a Progress supply ship to the Station in July. Spacewalking cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev attached the package to the outside of the Zvezda module on 18 August, where it will stay for 18 months.

Freeze-dry, warm, repeat
The vacuum of space is sucking out the water, oxygen and other gases in the samples. Their temperature can drop to –12°C as the Station passes through Earth’s shadow, rising to 40°C at other times.

…

Not every sample is suffering the same level of discomfort on its epic ride in space. Expose has special compartments that recreate the martian atmosphere by filtering some sunlight and retaining some pressure.

Previous experiments revealed that lichens and water bears can survive spaceflight unprotected.

nicest view though

I’ve been looking for that gardening glove everywhere. Wonder how it got up there.

So what’s that guitar doing there? On the left.

Bubblecar said:

So what’s that guitar doing there? On the left.

That’s weird. Very weird…

Is that a guitar to the left of the boxy things?

Bubblecar said:

So what’s that guitar doing there? On the left.

Oh, you saw it too :)

Bubblecar said:

So what’s that guitar doing there? On the left.

Ah, that’s where I left My Guitar, thanks

There are around 10,000 species of bacteria that live in/on the human body

they could test all 10,000 species in space

CrazyNeutrino said:

There are around 10,000 species of bacteria that live in/on the human body

they could test all 10,000 species in space

That seems to me to be a very high number.

bob(from black rock) said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

There are around 10,000 species of bacteria that live in/on the human body

they could test all 10,000 species in space

That seems to me to be a very high number.

Non human cells in your body outnumber the human cells. Most of you… isn’t you.

Carmen_Sandiego said:

Non human cells in your body outnumber the human cells. Most of you… isn’t you.

huh?

LOL

bob(from black rock) said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

There are around 10,000 species of bacteria that live in/on the human body

they could test all 10,000 species in space

That seems to me to be a very high number.

http://www.livescience.com/20929-microbes-healthy-humans-microbiome.html

Carmen_Sandiego said:

bob(from black rock) said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

There are around 10,000 species of bacteria that live in/on the human body they could test all 10,000 species in space

That seems to me to be a very high number.

Non human cells in your body outnumber the human cells. Most of you… isn’t you.

It’s also said that if all human cells were invisible, there are enough roundworms in the human body to make you visible. Add to that several species of mite.

I really want to know what those “46 species” are.

There are two biology experiments on board BIOMEX for life on Mars contains “biomolecules and organisms that include bacteria, archaea, algae, fungi, lichens and mosses”. BOSS for life in space contains only “single-celled plankton and microorganisms that form biofilms”. No mention there of arthropods. A conference paper says:

“lichens, Achaea, cyanobacteria, fungi, bacteria and their cellular components. BIOMEX aims to investigate their resistance when embedded with Martian and lunar mineral analogues. Moreover, resistance of their constituents (biomolecules such as pigments, cell wall components) will be investigated in order to create a biosignature database for the search of life beyond Earth. One of the organisms selected for this experiment is the cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis isolated from extremely dry, hot and cold deserts on Earth. Being one of the first phototrophic organisms to appear on the early Earth”

There is also http://phys.org/news/2014-01-lichen-mars.html about lichen on Mars.

Two groups of lichen samples were placed inside a Mars simulation chamber about the size of a big pressure cooker, which itself sat within a fridge. One of the lichen samples in the Mars chamber was exposed to the full brunt of radiation expected on the Martian surface, while the second set of samples received a radiation dose almost 24 times lower

Both lichen sample groups survived their month-long period under Martian conditions. But the heavier dose of radiation from a Xenon lamp simulating the surface radiation conditions kept the unprotected sample group from doing much beyond clinging to survival. Only the “protected” lichen carried on normal activities such as using photosynthesis to turn sunlight into chemical energy for itself. The protected lichen recovered quickly after an initial “shock” period by adapting well enough to steadily ramp up its photosynthetic activities all the way until the end of the experiment.