Microbes including fungus and bacteria in confined and limited capsules of space station environmental control and life support system under microgravity mainly come from astronaut metabolic wastes(stool and urine) and domestic garbage. In addition, repeated purification and recycle of food, gas and water in closed ecological facility need certain microbes, which add to the amount and species of microbes in capsules. Meanwhile, the medium such as condensate and water waste creates good breeding ground for microbes, of which corrosive metabolite such as sulfuric acid, organic acid, sulfide and ammonia and so on, will deteriorate the corrosion environment. The biological effect of microbes under microgravity condition, the microbial corrosion behavior to space station material and microbial corrosion protection technology are reviewed. Meanwhile the effect of special space microgravity environment to the physiological and biochemical characters of microbes as well as the complex interaction process between materials and microbes are discussed. It is suggested that performing microbial corrosion experiment research on related materials, expliciting the formation process of biofilms as well as corresponding corrosion mechanism, and developing new antimicrobial protection material system, are important to guarantee the safety of space station environmental control and life support system. Finally, some suggestions are provided for the relevant research and the developments, which are expected in the future.
ZOU Shiwen;XIAO Kui;DONG Chaofang;DING Kangkang;LI Xiaogang
. Corrosion Behavior and Control Methods of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion of Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System[J]. Science & Technology Review, 2013
, 31(30)
: 61
-66
.
DOI: 10.3981/j.issn.1000-7857.2013.30.009