Stowaways ...

An Artemis II astronaut photographed the cratered Moon and crescent Earth from Orion in April 2026. Credit: NASA. The image is illustrative and is not one of the microbial-survival maps from the study.

Nice to know, Aspergillus niger, a familiar fungus growing in wet places like the bathrooms on the USS Lincoln, can become stowaways from hell when astronauts visit the moon, something rather disquieting to say the least. 

A. niger growing on potato dextrose agar

There are others potential stowaways as one can well imagine as nature finds a way, always.

A NASA-led study published in August 2026 mapped small niches near the lunar south pole where human-associated microbes could remain viable. The most persistent candidate was Aspergillus niger, a darkly pigmented fungus common in warm, damp buildings and repeatedly detected in spacecraft environments, including the International Space Station.

Its advantage was specific. Among the organisms considered, A. niger had the highest measured resistance to ultraviolet radiation, surpassing even Deinococcus radiodurans, a bacterium so resistant to radiation and desiccation that it is routinely used as a benchmark for biological toughness.

The new work did not place living mould on the Moon. It combined existing laboratory survival measurements with detailed models of sunlight, temperature and terrain. What emerged was a map of where dormant microbial cells might endure for days, not where they could grow into a lunar ecosystem.

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