NASA drops bacteria-filled balloons into the air at the event of the eclipse

You don't see "bacteria" but startled, NASA brings up harmless bacteria to study.

The phenomenon of eclipses that are about to take place on Monday, August 21 seems to bring the United States closer together: people and family gather together to go to the sky, admire the rare astronomical event this. To add some flavor to that big day, NASA and researchers at Montana State University will launch in the air a few giant balloons containing bacteria, at the same time the solar eclipse takes place.

The fleet will have a total of 75 fruits, more than 30 will carry a small sample of bacteria.

Don't worry, they don't mean to hurt anyone. These giant balloons belong to a research project with a name that cannot be more specific, the Eclipse Eclipse Project , which aims to perform some important experiments that one of them will provide whether humanity is better prepared for the conquest of Mars.

The fleet will have a total of 75 fruits, more than 30 will carry a small sample of very fast-growing bacteria called Paenibacillus xerothermodurans , which will fly at an altitude of 24,000 meters above the ground. Research shows that the stratosphere of the Earth is also similar to the surface of Mars, through the data that obtained the way this bacterium works in this condition, scientists will better understand how The living creatures react to the surface of Mars far away.

In addition to bacteria, these balloons also carry video recording equipment to observe the clouds.

'We will have to be very careful, not bring any bacteria or any of these life forms from Earth to other planets,' said the project leader, Angela Des Jardins, to Gizmodo. 'Most of the life forms around us will not survive the space environment, we still understand that there will be' dormant 'creatures somewhere, and then resurrect when reaching another planet's surface. So to keep the other planet clean, we have to understand how they can work on those planets. '

In addition to experimenting with bacteria, these balloons also carry video recording equipment to observe the clouds. The research team wishes to have precious footage for them to know how clouds are formed during the solar eclipse. And yet, a tiny weather station will be accompanied by this flight, the purpose of which is also to monitor Earth's weather during the solar eclipse.

'After only one or two days we have the video,' said Jardins. 'Microbial analysis will be done by Cornell scientists and the results will be available in about a month or two. Weather analysis reports will take about one to two months to complete. '