Water and microbial monitoring technologies towards the near future space exploration

Modifying Anthocyanins Biosynthesis in Tomato Hairy Roots: A Test Bed for Plant Resistance to Ionizing Radiation and Antioxidant Properties in Space

“…Together with the above-mentioned abiotic ‘macro-stresses,’ plants intended for space agriculture will have to cope with a plethora of abiotic ‘micro-stresses’ related to the different cultivation environment/systems that will be adopted. Furthermore, plants will have to share with humans future crewed space habitats (spaceflights, planetary outposts, and life-support systems) where stringent microbial quality requirements may not be achieved ( Amalfitano et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Due to these properties, anthocyanins have increasing applications in the food sector and there is also growing interested in the design of food crops with improved levels and composition of these antioxidant nutraceuticals. In particular, the research involved in the definition of plants intended for ‘agrospace’ applications, will have to tackle the issue to provide fresh and healthy food for space crews in the context of a harmful ionizing irradiated environment, and to cope with cultivation areas subjected to possible biotic contaminations, as well ( Amalfitano et al, 2020 ; Bijlani et al, 2021 ). Agrospace crops are, therefore, candidates for the application of technologies aiming to improve both their content in antioxidant nutraceuticals and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses ( Zabel et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Massa et al, 2016 ; Khodadad et al, 2020 ).…”

Antimicrobial Surfaces for Applications on Confined Inhabited Space Stations

“…Currently, on the ISS, water is distributed for different purposes, including human consumption, hygiene and cleaning practices, urinal flushing, oxygen generation via electrolysis, life‐support systems, and flexible water‐based experimental activities (e.g., vegetable and food production systems, animal physiology, and behavioral adaptation tests). [ 85 ] Unconditionally, the water system's most critical parameter is the microbes count, since microbial growth is unavoidable in persistent stagnation zones and at varying residence times along the water distribution network. [ 86 ] Except for the pretreated water delivered from the Earth, the ISS's water regeneration system is also responsible for producing potable water.…”

Morphological and molecular adaptation of Aspergillus niger to simulated spaceflight and Mars-like conditions

“…Moreover, efforts should focus on developing fast detection of surface-degrading fungi (and other microbes) (Rcheulishvili et al, 2020) as well as on developing strategies and technologies to monitor, and mitigate biofilms in spaceflight (Probst and Vaishampayan, 2020;Zea et al, 2020). In particular in water-systems where disinfection and waste water management are critical (Amalfitano et al, 2020;Richardson and Rautemaa-Richardson, 2019;Wong et al, 2010), and can play a role in circular bioeconomy (Collivignarelli et al, 2020;Li et al, 2019).…”