某些顽强微生物或能在月球南极存活

Some bacteria and fungi are notorious for tagging along on space missions, via space suits, payloads and even the exterior of the International Space Station. If those earthly microbes hitch a ride on NASA’s crewed Artemis IV mission to the lunar south pole region — set to launch in 2028 — they could withstand the area’s cold, dark conditions, calculations suggest. The findings, reported in Science Advances, reinforce the importance of decontamination protocols, researchers say. Previous lunar missions explored the moon’s equatorial regions, where high levels of ultraviolet radiation and large daily temperature swings make the surface inhospitable to life. …