Open AccessMicrobial Observatory Research in the International Space Station and Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo”
Author(s) -
Masaki Shimizu,
Fumiaki Tanigaki,
Takashi Yamazaki
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of disaster research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.332
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1883-8030
pISSN - 1881-2473
DOI - 10.20965/jdr.2015.p1025
Subject(s) - international space station , space environment , space (punctuation) , aeronautics , plan (archaeology) , environmental science , systems engineering , engineering , computer science , geography , operating system , archaeology , geophysics , geology
The International Space Station (ISS) is a completely closed environment that offers a long-term microgravity environment. It is a unique environment where microbes can fly and attach themselves to devices or humans, especially the exposed parts of the body and head. The ongoing monitoring and analysis of microbes and their movement inside the Japanese Experiment Module (named “Kibo”) of the ISS are intended to study the effects of microbes on humans and prevent health hazards caused by microbes during a long-term space mission. This paper describes the current status and future plan of Japanese microbiological experiments to monitor microbial dynamics in Kibo. It also describes the future prospective and prioritized microbiological research areas based on the “Kibo utilization scenario towards 2020 in the field of life science.” Given the microbial research in space being actively conducted by the USA, NASA and international activities are also reported.