On 3 August 2016, a microbial culture prepared by the AIME team (*) (Université de Strasbourg - CNRS mixed research unit Génétique Moléculaire, Génomique, Microbiologie) will take off in Cap Canaveral (Florida), on a journey to the International Space Station. The experiment will investigate the possibility of methane production by microorganisms under conditions of microgravity and radiation.
This project is a new cooperation between the University of Strasbourg, Illkirch's International Space University (ISU), leader of the project, and Airbus DS in Germany, with the financial support of Strasbourg’s Eurometropole. It was prompted by recent discoveries of methane plumes by the Mars rover Curiosity. One of the hypotheses to explain these findings is that these emissions could be produced by a microbial life form in the red planet’s subsurface. Before a space mission can travel to Mars to investigate the question, the project will allow to test the adaptation of known methane-producing microorganisms from Earth under conditions similar to those encountered on Mars. In this promising and exploratory endeavour to develop space-related microbiology research in Strasbourg, the AIME team (*) will combine its expertise in the field of microbial metabolism of one-carbon compounds such as methane with the engineering know-how of ISU and Airbus.
(*) Microbial Adaptation and Interactions in the Environment (AIME)
