This is scientific American 60 second science. I'm Christopher Intagiyata.

A humid bathroom is the perfect habitat for mold, but there are ways to avoid it.

We can just open the window and let some fresh air in.

Not so easy on a space station though,

as astrobiologist Petra Schwender of the University of Edinburgh explains.

It has been seen on that international space station or on the mirror

that these microorganisms can accumulate.

I've seen pictures where you could see this corrosion caused by bacteria or basically an accumulation of

fungus behind wet towers.

So as we set our sights on Mars, what might grow in the spacecraft, essentially a human scale

Petri dish during the year and a half long flight.

The Mars 500 habitat in Moscow simulated that trip, with six crew members confined inside.

And Schwendner and her team tested microbial samples of the habitat over time.

They found what you might expect, a lot of human-related bacteria and fungi, mostly it levels

deemed safe for life in space. But they also noticed a decline in

microbial diversity over time, which could indicate a less than healthy

microbial community

that's potentially more prone to take over by hostile bacteria.

Seeing this decrease basically for us an important point or proof that

continuous monitoring is an important fact and is really required

to basically maintain or being able to maintain a healthy environment. The studies in the journal Microbiome. When we do

rocket to the red planet it'll be impossible to keep our spacecraft completely

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