Wallops rocket mission to test alien-detecting technology in space

A new experiment heading to the International Space Station this month could help scientists unlock one of mankind's biggest mysteries: whether life exists beyond our own planet.

The short answer is it already does. That is, there's plenty to be found aboard the space station — all those microbial stowaways that have hitched rides on supplies and the astronauts themselves over the years.

NASA scientists said Thursday they hope to study the bacteria's DNA as a dry run for using the technology to analyze microscopic life elsewhere in space.

“The kinds of experiments we’re doing now with this technology are kind of the first version of doing that to detect life” somewhere beyond Earth, said Sarah Wallace, a NASA microbiologist. “The more experience we can get with it on the ISS gets us one more step to using it some place else.”

A NASA contractor is scheduled to launch the experiment aboard a rocket from Virginia's Wallops Flight Facility early on the morning of May 20. It is part of 7,400 pounds of crew supplies and dozens of experiments that will be carried inside Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft.

The microbe study represents the third stage in an ongoing DNA extraction and sequencing study, Wallace said. Earlier experiments have shown that sequencing DNA is possible in space and that the technology can identify the microbes it encounters.

The goal of the latest effort is two-fold, Wallace said.

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First: the alien stuff.

If the technology works inside the floating laboratory, there's no reason it couldn't also be applied to the surface of other planets or moons, she said. Wallace and her collaborators hope it will be able to discern life even in so-called "biomolecules" that look and act nothing like their counterparts on Earth.

Second: ensuring the safety of human space explorers.

If humans ever make it to Mars or beyond, Wallace said, her experiment could bring them the tools to get them there without becoming gravely ill.

Scientists already know that organisms evolve differently in space than they do on the Earth's surface. Disease-causing bacteria, for example, could morph in ways that pose greater danger to human hosts, Wallace said.

Part of the experiment involves sequencing the bacteria's DNA at various intervals to see how it has changed. They also will examine the mechanism behind those changes to determine exactly which genes are being turned "on" and "off."

The microbes themselves will be swabbed from surfaces inside the space station. Scientists hope to use a more efficient method for studying the tiny organisms that allows them to skip the time-consuming process of growing some first in a petri dish, Wallace said.

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Another experiment on the flight will help researchers better understand how atoms behave in extreme cold temperatures. They have a difficult time performing such experiments on Earth because the atoms are theoretically supposed to become motionless, but gravity often spoils the effect, said Robert Shotwell, a NASA chief engineer.

“The physics community has been looking forward to this and anxious about getting (the experiment) going for some time," he said.

The rocket also will be ferrying an experiment that will test the ability of a "safe strain" of the E. coli bacteria to more efficiently produce isobutene, a key petroleum derivative.

The rocket's takeoff is scheduled for 5:04 a.m. Sunday, May 20.

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