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In planetary protection, the term “encapsulated bioburden” is used to indicated the number of viable microorganisms that are trapped inside nonmetallic spacecraft materials. They can be trapped between the layers of multilayer insulator, in the glue for honeycombs, or in the matrix itself. A spaceflight project may choose to measure the number of microorganisms present in a specific material. In addition, NASA and ESA have established consensus specifications describing the number of microorganisms that are assumed to be present in a variety of materials manufactured or prepared under defined conditions.
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Conley, C.A. (2011). Encapsulated Bioburden. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_509
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_509
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11271-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11274-4
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