Overview
- A NASA‑led paper published Aug. 19, 2026 used Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maps to model light, temperature and radiation at three candidate south‑pole sites and identified localized shaded pockets where microbes could remain viable for days.
- The team compared those environmental models to laboratory limits for five organisms commonly found on spacecraft and people, finding the fungus Aspergillus niger could persist in models for up to about seven Earth days.
- The study defines survival as remaining viable for at least one Earth day and explicitly says surviving in a dormant state is not the same as growth because the Moon lacks liquid water and warm temperatures required for reproduction.
- Authors and NASA scientists say the findings require new steps for mission planning, including baseline contamination surveys, stricter contamination control for crewed missions, and reconsideration of site selection and sample handling to avoid confusing science.
- The paper also notes a natural delivery route because meteorite exchange could have seeded the Moon before human visits, making the polar regions both contamination risks and useful real‑world labs to test microbial limits.