Investigation of the stability of living matter to the damaging factors of near-Earth space

Experiments with the exposure of various taxonomic groups in open space on the first satellites and up to modern projects have shown an extraordinary multi-month resistance of living matter to damaging radiation factors of near-Earth space. As a result of these experiments, the possibility of maintaining the viability of organisms in an open space for at least two years was confirmed, and, as a result, interest arose in the transfer of living matter from the stratosphere to near-Earth space. RUDN scientists have suggested that viable forms, or at least intact DNA, can be transferred to the ISS orbit with the ascending branch of the global electrical circuit. The mechanism of such transfer of dispersed particles from the stratosphere to the ionosphere was proposed earlier. Tested by molecular and chemical methods and analyzed the results of the study of space experiment. Molecular sequencing and analysis in the BLAST program showed that, as a result of the analyzes obtained in the course of spacewalk 42, the DNA of the genome of the fungus Erythrobasidium and Cystobasidium was detected in the samples of the screen vacuum thermal insulation and the rim of the VL1 CO1 viewing port. Fungi of these species were previously isolated from seawater. The Bjerkandera fungus DNA, as well as the DNA of bacteria of the Micobacteria species, namely, bacteria close in the primary sequence to Mycobacterium peregrinum, was found in the zone on the surface of the CTP (значение аббревиатуры?) screen in the viewing port No. 8. According to previously published data, the sources of secretion of these mycobacteria were fish and the surface of sea water. This proves the initial hypothesis of an external tropospheric source of living organisms and establishes a new boundary for the Earth’s biosphere.