NASA NAMES NEW SPECIES AFTER EXPREZ KALAM
Scientists at Nasa have named a new organism discovered by them after the much-loved APJ Abdul Kalam. To date, the new organism — a form of a bacteria — has been found only on the International Space Station and not even on earth. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the foremost lab of Nasa for work on inter-planetary travel, discovered the new bacteria on the filters of the ISS and named it Solibacillus kalamii.
In great news for India, scientists at NASA have named an organism discovered by them after the popular APJ Abdul Kalam.
To date, the new organism — a form of a bacteria — has been found only on the International Space Station (ISS) and not even on earth.
Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the foremost lab of NASA for work on interplanetary travel, discovered the bacteria on the filters of the ISS and named it Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president, who was a famous aerospace scientist.
Kalam underwent his early training at NASA in 1963 before he set up India’s first rocket-launching facility in a small fishing village of Kerala.
“The name of the bacterium is Solibacillus kalamii, the species name is after Dr Abdul Kalam, and genus name is Solibacillus, which is a spore-forming bacteria,” said Kasthuri Venkateswaran, senior research scientist, Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group at JPL.
The filter on which the new bug was found remained on board the ISS for 40 months.
According to Venkateswaran, even as it orbits the earth about 400km above, the ISS is home to many types of bacteria and fungi, which co-inhabit the station with the astronauts who live and work on it.