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When We Fly to Mars, Microbes Will, Too

飞向火星的不止是你，还有“我”

A humid bathroom is the perfect habitat for mold. But there are ways to avoid it. "We can just open the window and let some fresh air in!" Not so easy on a space station though, as astrobiologist Petra Schwendner of the University of Edinburgh explains.

潮湿的浴室是霉菌生活的绝佳场所，但是也有杜绝的办法。“我们只需要打开窗户，让新鲜的空气流通进来。”爱丁堡大学的天体生物学家Petra Schwendner解释道，但是在空间站这么做就不太容易了。

"It has been seen on the international space station or on the MIR that these microorganisms can accumulate. I've seen pictures where you could see this corrosion¹ caused by bacteria or an accumulation of fungus² behind wet towels."

在国际空间站，或者和平号上，就可以看到有很多微生物聚集在那里。我曾看过这样的场景，你可以看到细菌引发的腐蚀或者湿毛巾后面聚集着许多真菌。

So as we set our sights on Mars, what might grow in the spacecraft—essentially a human-scale petri dish—during the year-and-a-half-long flight?

所以，当我们把目光转移到火星，在长达一年半的飞行过程中，宇宙飞船中会长些什么呢?——更精准的说，是在有盖的培养皿中会长些什么呢?

The Mars500 habitat in Moscow simulated that trip, with six crew members confined inside. And Schwendner and her team tested microbial samples of the habitat over time.

“火星500”模拟了火星飞行任务，此次试验是在莫斯科的实验基地进行。有6名机组人员在飞船中。Schwendner 和她的团队测试了随着时间推移栖息地的微生物样本的变化。

They found what you might expect: a lot of human-related bacteria and fungi³, mostly at levels deemed safe for life in space. But they also noticed a decline in microbial diversity over time—which could indicate a less-than-healthy microbial community that’s potentially more prone⁴ to takeover by hostile bacteria.

他们发现结果和人们的预期一样：与人类相关的细菌和真菌，在太空中多处于安全水平。但是他们也注意到随着时间的推移，微生物的种类减少——这意味着敌对的细菌占领并衍生出了不太健康的微生物群落。

"Seeing this decrease is for us an important point or proof that continuous monitoring is an important fact and is really required for being able to maintain a healthy environment." The study is in the journal Microbiome.

“见证微生物群落的减少向我们证明了持续的监测非常重要，同时也是保持健康环境所必须的。”该研究结果发表在《微生物学》杂志上。

When we do rocket to the Red Planet, it'll be impossible to keep our spacecraft completely sterile⁵. Humans are leaky animals. The real question might be how we'll keep our many microbes…from colonizing⁶ Mars.

我们向火星发射火箭时，保持宇宙飞船完全无菌是不可能的。人类也会有破绽。真正的问题在于我们如何避免多种微生物……殖民火星。