Mutant Mold In Outer Space

Review by Stan Hanel

“Mutant Mold In Outer Space” is an entertaining documentary that starts out by paying homage to science fiction but then carries the viewer from fun-filled “B-movie” entertainment to the awareness of an invisible world that has the potential to threaten mankind.

The documentary was produced by Bob and Gail Brandys of OEHCS, Inc., directed by Radek Skalski of Liquid Logic Films, and narrated by Ryan Brandys. Bob Brandys translated Russian space program documentaries and publications. He also researched NASA publications to probe the story of microbiology in outer space, with 75 reference credits posted at the end of the film to document his findings.

The more sobering part of the documentary begins with early Russian Sputnik launches that studied the behavior of outer space gamma radiation and lack of gravity on microbes, bacteria, single cell organisms and various forms of plant life to see how they would survive. Many Russian and U.S. scientists attempted to extrapolate the results of these satellite experiments during the 1960s to predict how they would affect humans as they exited the protective womb of the earth’s atmosphere.

After U.S. outer space missions completed their exploration to the moon, Russian missions became focused on building the Mir space station in order to study the long term effects of living in outer space.

The Russian space station Mir showed that outer space was still a hostile environment. Even more surprising were the effects of outer space on micro-organisms and bacteria carried there by the first cosmonauts. Though relatively harmless on earth, microbes would become exposed to a gravity-free environment that was also bathed daily in gamma radiation. Some strange mutations did occur.

Mir had initially been built within the earth environment and, because of that, brought up many tiny earth organisms with it into outer space.

Over time and with the addition of subsequent new microbes carried by visiting cosmonauts, mold spores and bacteria could multiply ten times as fast as in an earthbound environment. As these organisms quickly grew and mutated, some exhibited alarming properties that surpassed similar earthlike molds. These monster molds would attack the electrical wire insulation within the space station, short circuit wiring harnesses and cause fires. Rubber sealing gaskets, plastic tubing for water and air, even the aluminum hull of the space station were vulnerable to corrosion from this organic growth. These problems created the potential for oxygen and water leakage within the space station. Traces of E. coli bacteria from human feces could also create harmful effects to astronauts over time, even when supposedly treated by the water recycling system.

To eliminate the problem of a mutant, microbiallly-contaminated piece of floating junk in near-earth orbit, the Russian space program decided to destroy Mir by plunging it back into the earth’s atmosphere to burn it up on re-entry.

But what if some of these mutated strains of micro-organisms survived? The Andromeda Strain was a science fiction novel written during this time that posed a horrific answer to this “what if” situation. Like an earlier B-movie, “The Blob”, an unchecked micro-organism from outer space that fed on carbon material to sustain itself, might be too much for a human body immune system to withstand.

When the International Space Station was built by American, Russian, European and Asian efforts after Mir was destroyed, lessons learned on Mir were designed into the new space station. Many of the components were assembled in outer space. NASA scientists developed a “slurper” that could suck water out of an air dehumidifier but recycle it back into the station’s water system, using high efficiency air filters to trap microbes and bacteria. Electric mold “zappers” had already been developed on MIR to try to destroy the mold residue that would build up inside the air filters when it was not convenient to change them. Internal walls of the space station were manually scrubbed by its occupants on a frequent schedule.

And yet, mutating mold and bacteria have continued to be a problem for the new space station, as it continued to age. Though the new technology did improve living conditions by a factor of three (only 77 species of mold were identified compared to 234 species on Mir), some harmful molds and pathogenic bacteria continued to grow.

For future space travels over long distances, one solution to living within a less hazardous environment in space would be to induce an artificial gravity within the space ship or remote station, that would help collect, destroy and dispose of microbes and bacteria before they become more aggressive. Better external shielding around the habitat would also protect the inside living environment of the vessel from gamma rays and other harmful radiation.

Without these safeguards, mankind might someday be threatened by a returning mutant mold from outer space.