Feasibility of an In-Situ Microbial Decontamination of an Ice-Melting Probe

Authors

  • W. Leimena Aachen University of Applied Sciences (AcUAS), Institute of Bioengineering, Laboratory of Cell- and Microbiology, Gemany
  • G. M. Artmann AcUAS, Laboratory of Medical & Molecular Biology and Laboratory for Cellular Biophysics, Juelich, Germany
  • B. Dachwald AcUAS, Aerospace Technology Department, Aachen, Germany
  • A. Artmann AcUAS, Laboratory of Medical & Molecular Biology and Laboratory for Cellular Biophysics, Juelich, Germany
  • M. Gobmann AcUAS, Laboratory of Medical & Molecular Biology and Laboratory for Cellular Biophysics, Juelich, Germany
  • I. Digel Aachen University of Applied Sciences (AcUAS), Institute of Bioengineering, Laboratory of Cell- and Microbiology, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18321/ectj37

Abstract

Autonomous robotic systems for penetrating thick ice shells with simultaneous collecting of scientific data are very promising devices in both terrestrial (glacier, climate research) and extra-terrestrial applications. Technical challenges in development of such systems are numerous and include 3D-navigation, an appropriate energy source, motion control, etc. Not less important is the problem of forward contamination of the pristine glacial environments with microorganisms and biomolecules from the surface of the probe. This study was devoted to establishing a laboratory model for microbial contamination of a newlyconstructed
ice-melting probe called IceMole and to analyse the viability and amount of the contaminating microorganisms as a function of distance. The used bacterial strains were Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6051) and Escherichia coli (ATCC 11775). The main objective was development of an efficient and reliable in-situ decontamination method of the melting probe. Therefore, several chemical substances were tested in respect of their efficacy to eliminate bacteria on the surface of the melting probe at low temperature (0 - 5 °C) and at continuous dilution by melted water. Our study has shown that at least 99.9% decontamination of the IceMole can be successfully achieved by the injection of 30% (v/v) hydrogen peroxide and 3% (v/v) sodium hypochlorite into the drilling site. We were able to reproduce this result in both time-dependent and depth-dependent experiments. The sufficient amount of 30% (v/v) H2O2 or 3% (v/v) NaClO has been found to be approximately 18 L per cm² of the probe’s surface.

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Published

2010-04-12

How to Cite

Leimena, W., Artmann, G. M., Dachwald, B., Artmann, A., Gobmann, M., & Digel, I. (2010). Feasibility of an In-Situ Microbial Decontamination of an Ice-Melting Probe. Eurasian Chemico-Technological Journal, 12(2), 145–150. https://doi.org/10.18321/ectj37

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2010)

Section

Articles

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