In February 2023, project partners Katharina Runzheimer and Prof. Ralf Möller worked at the Heavy Ion Medial Accelerator (HIMAC) in Chiba, Japan, conducting irradiation experiments. At HIMAC, various ions such as argon, helium and iron can be extremely accelerated , simulating cosmic radiation.
Unlike humans, who can tolerate only up to five Gray (unit of absorbed ionising radiation), some microorganisms are very resistant and can tolerate radiation doses of over 1000 Gray. However, this depends on the type of radiation – not every microorganism can tolerate every type of radiation.
With their experiments at HIMAC, the project group at DLR wanted to test aquatic microorganisms’ resistance to specifically induced ionised radiation in order to better understand their adaptation mechanisms.
