Russian Cosmonauts EVA search for bacterium corroding ISS

The Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin, staying aboard the International Space Station (ISS), recently conducted at EVA from the Space Station with the aim of examining the ISS body to find out whether there is a bacterium there that can destroy its surface.

The bacteria research, done by scientists, has been going on for more than 20 years now.

Over the past period the Russian Space Agency has given Russian and foreign biologists more than 1 million pestiferous microbes that can destroy metals and polymers.

According to information obtained by experts during the past decades, we know that the life cycle of such microorganisms can last from 20 to 30 minutes.

Bacteria have enough time to grow, multiply, to destroy several molecules of the material they choose, and die.

In a 10-year period nearly 200,000 generations of microbes undergo changes, scientists say.

As a rule, there are many microbes in pipelines, air conditioners, cooler-dehumidifier units, oxygen electrolysis units, electric and hydraulic lines, helmets, and on skin-plating.