PMID- 27844457
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20200930
IS  - 2191-0855 (Print)
IS  - 2191-0855 (Electronic)
IS  - 2191-0855 (Linking)
VI  - 6
IP  - 1
DP  - 2016 Dec
TI  - Application of the ATP assay to rapidly assess cleanliness of spacecraft 
      surfaces: a path to set a standard for future missions.
PG  - 113
LID - 10.1186/s13568-016-0286-9 [doi]
LID - 113
AB  - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) measures and validates 
      the biological cleanliness of spacecraft surfaces by counting endospores using 
      the NASA standard assay (NSA). NASA has also approved an 
      adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP)-based detection methodology as a means to 
      prescreen surfaces for the presence of microbial contamination, prior to the 
      spore assay. During Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft assembly, test, and 
      launch operations, 4853 surface samples were collected to verify compliance with 
      the bioburden requirement at launch. A subset of these samples was measured for 
      microbial cleanliness using both the NSA (n = 272) and ATP assay (n = 249). NSA 
      results revealed that ~8% (22/272) of the samples showed the presence of at least 
      one spore, whereas ATP assay measurements indicated that ~15% (35/249) of samples 
      exceeded the "threshold cleanliness limit" of 2.3 x 10(-11) mmol ATP per 25 cm(2) 
      used by MSL. Of the 22 NSA samples with a spore, 18% (4/22) were considered above 
      the level of acceptance by both techniques. Based on post launch data analysis 
      presented here, it was determined that this threshold cleanliness limit of 
      2.3 x 10(-11) mmol ATP per 25 cm(2) could be adopted as a benchmark for assessing 
      spacecraft surface cleanliness. This study clearly demonstrates the value of 
      using alternative methods to rapidly assess spacecraft cleanliness, and provides 
      useful information regarding the process.
FAU - Benardini, James N
AU  - Benardini JN
AD  - Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
      California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., M/S 89-2, Pasadena, CA, 
      91109, USA.
FAU - Venkateswaran, Kasthuri
AU  - Venkateswaran K
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6742-0873
AD  - Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
      California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., M/S 89-2, Pasadena, CA, 
      91109, USA. kjvenkat@jpl.nasa.gov.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20161114
PL  - Germany
TA  - AMB Express
JT  - AMB Express
JID - 101561785
PMC - PMC5108744
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - ATP
OT  - Burden
OT  - MSL
OT  - NASA standard assay
OT  - Planetary protection
OT  - Spore
EDAT- 2016/11/16 06:00
MHDA- 2016/11/16 06:01
PMCR- 2016/11/14
CRDT- 2016/11/16 06:00
PHST- 2016/09/27 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2016/11/07 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2016/11/16 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2016/11/16 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2016/11/16 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2016/11/14 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s13568-016-0286-9 [pii]
AID - 286 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s13568-016-0286-9 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - AMB Express. 2016 Dec;6(1):113. doi: 10.1186/s13568-016-0286-9. Epub 2016 Nov 14.