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\nThe International Space Station is the platform to study a variety of fields without gravity getting in the way. A new experiment is furthering the Station\u2019s capabilities for investigating exobiology, or the study of life in space.\n<\/p>\n
\nIt is rough out in space for most organisms. Thanks to a number of externally-mounted Expose facilities outside the Station, researchers know just how rough it is by analysing organic samples exposed to solar and cosmic radiation over time.\n<\/p>\n
\nA number of bacteria, seeds, lichens and algae have been repeatedly frozen, thawed, vacuum-dried and exposed to radiation for months. The samples endured temperature swings from \u201327oC to +46oC, crossing the freezing point 569 times as they orbited Earth during multiple six-month missions.\n<\/p>\n
\nResearchers have already found life that can survive spaceflight. Both lichen and small organisms called tardigrades or \u2018water bears\u2019 spent months attached outside the International Space Station and returned to Earth alive and well.\n<\/p>\n
Now ESA is looking to take exobiology research to the next level with the Exobiology facility that will be installed on the upcoming Bartolomeo platform<\/a> outside the European Columbus module on the Space Station.
One of the facility\u2019s main instruments is an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, for which the SpectroDemo experiment, imaged here during an interface test, is a precursor.\n<\/p>\n