How Bugs Hitch-Hike Across the Galaxy Reading Answers

Jan 25, 2023

How Bugs Hitch Hike Across The Galaxy Reading Answers has been referenced from the book Cambridge 14, Test 3. The topic; How Bugs Hitch Hike Across The Galaxy Reading Answers is an IELTS academic reading topic and comprises a total of 12 questions. The question types that have been included in this IELTS Reading topic are; Matching heading, sentence completion, and Choose the correct option. A careful read to this IELTS reading topic; How Bugs Hitch Hike Across The Galaxy Reading Answers can help candidates solve the questions efficiently and accurately. More such IELTS reading topics can be practiced from IELTS Reading practice papers.

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Reading Passage Question

Mankind’s search for alien life could be jeopardized by ultra-resilient bacteria from Earth. David Derbyshire reports. What was the most important discovery of the Apollo programme? Some have argued that it was the rocks that explained how the Moon was formed. Others believe it was technological spin-offs. But according to Captain Peter Conrad, who led the 1969 Apollo 12 mission, it was life.
On the apparently dead lunar surface, a colony of bacteria was thriving. The organisms were not native to the Moon but were visitors from Earth who had hitch-hiked a ride onboard one of Nasa’s five Surveyor probes from the 1960s. To the astonishment of biologists, between 50 and 100 Streptococcus bacteria survived the journey across space, at an average temperature 20 degrees above absolute zero with no source of energy or water, and stayed alive on the Moon in a camera for three years. Captain Conrad, who returned the bacteria to Earth, was later to confess: ‘I always thought the most significant thing we ever found on the whole Moon was the little bacteria that came back and lived’.
The ability of life to survive, adapt and evolve never fails to astonish. Over the past three decades, bacteria and archaea have been found in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Known as extremophiles, these organisms have coped with life in a vacuum, pressure as high as 70 tons per square inch, depths of four miles beneath the surface and scorching waters around deep-sea volcanic vents. They have also survived 25 million years inside a bee preserved in resin. Their resilience has renewed enthusiasm for the search for alien life – a quest that many had assumed had been banished to fantasy fiction. Mars and the moons Titan, Europa and Callisto are once again plausible candidates for extraterrestrials.
As interest in alien life has grown, so have concerns that mankind could spread its own microscopic bugs, contaminating the places we want to explore. In 2003, Nasa ended the Galileo probe’s mission by smashing it into Jupiter. The fear was that it could be carrying bacteria that might contaminate Europa’s oceans. The team behind Beagle 2 — the British probe that went to search for life on Mars in 2003 – was forced to take contamination particularly seriously. If Beagle carried to Mars life or dead spores picked up during the manufacture of the spacecraft, its science would be jeopardised. Prof Colin Pillinger, the Open University scientist who headed the Beagle project, said: ‘What we’ve learnt since the Apollo missions and the Viking Mars missions of the 1970s is that bugs are far more tenacious than we ever imagined. They seem to be very tolerant of high temperatures, they lie dormant at low temperatures for long periods, they are immune to salt, acid and alkali, they seem to survive on the substrate and are not what people expect. Extremophiles are extremely adapted to hanging on to life.’
Beagle had to be assembled in a ‘clean room’ – and one was specially put together in a converted BBC outside broadcast van garage in Milton Keynes. It had enough room to include an enormous set of fans that circulated and filtered the air 500 times an hour. Only a handful of trained researchers were allowed inside. ‘I wasn’t allowed in,’ says Prof Pillinger. ‘There was special training for people going in there and special conditions. There was a ban on beards and a limit of four people at any one time. The team kept samples of everything that could have contaminated the craft and monitored every stage of assembly.’
To reduce the workload, the idea was to build as much as possible before sterilising it and banishing it to the difficult working conditions inside the cleanroom. The easy stuff was heated to 115C for 52 hours, more than enough to kill off Drugs. Electronic equipment can’t cope with those sorts of temperatures, so the team used a hydrogen peroxide plasma, created in a microwave, to kill off bugs at low temperatures. Parachutes and gas bags were zapped with gamma radiation. It wasn’t just facial hair that was banned. ‘You’ve heard of the paperless office,’ says Prof Pillinger. ``We had a paperless assembly line. The guys normally go in armed with loads of papers and diagrams, but we didn’t allow any of that. They were given information through a glass wall, over mics and monitors. And sometimes on a piece of paper stuck to the glass with sticky tape.’
Beagle’s heat shield doubled as its biological shield. So once the instruments were encased and sealed, the craft could be brought back into the real world. The shield heated up to 1,700 degrees on its descent through the Martian atmosphere, so bugs on the casing were not a worry. Mars Express – the craft carrying Beagle – did not need sterilising. Its trajectory was designed so that if something went wrong, the craft would not simply crash into the planet. Its course could be corrected enroute.
Eventually, space scientists hope to return samples of Mars to Earth. While the risks of alien bacteria proving hazardous on Earth may be remote, the rocks will still need to be quarantined. Moon rocks from Apollo were analysed in vacuum glove boxes for the first two missions. Later, researchers stored rocks in nitrogen. Prof Pillinger believed the first Mars rocks should be sterilised before they are studied on Earth. ‘For security purposes, it would be the most sensible thing to do. You don’t have to sterilise it all, you can contain some of it and then sterilise the sample you want to look at, but it would lower the risk and make it easier to analyse.’

Solution With Explanation
Questions 14 - 20:

Look at the statements (Questions 14 - 20) and the list of spacecraft below.
Match each statement with the spacecraft it applies to.
Write your answer in the box and complete the sentence.
(Guide: In this task, Candidates are required to read the passage properly, and then select the most accurate answer impliedly mentioned in the passage itself. You just have to find out the paragraph that supports your answer, the correct answer is already there. Please, avoid reading long paragraphs to save your time during the real examination. Search for keywords instead)

provided transport from Earth tor bacteria
led to the realisation of how tenacious bacteria are
was created so that there could be no bacteria on the outer structure
was capable of changing direction in the event of a problem
brought material which was kept in more than one kind of container
required action because of the possibility of the introduction of harmful bacteria
resulted in disagreement as to the relative value of what was found

Question 14.

Answer: Surveyor Probes
Supporting Sentence: On the apparently dead lunar surface, a colony of bacteria was thriving. The organisms were not native to the Moon, but were visitors from Earth who had hitch-hiked a ride on board one of Nasa’s five Surveyor probes from the 1960s.
Keywords: Surveyor probes, Visitors, Hitch-hiked.
Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, Lines 2-3
Explanation: The author writes, "On the seemingly dead lunar surface, a colony of bacteria was growing," in paragraph 2, lines 2-3. The organisms were guests from Earth who had taken a ride on one of NASA's five Surveyor probes in the 1960s. They were not native to the Moon and were not first born there. Instead, they had traveled there through one of Nasa's five Surveyor missions.These lines suggest that the creatures were transported to the moon by Surveyor probes from the earth.

Question 15.

Answer: Apollo Craft.
Supporting Sentence: Captain Peter Conrad, who led the 1969 Apollo 12 mission, realized that it was life. To the astonishment of biologists, between 50 and 100 Streptococcus bacteria survived the journey across space, at an average temperature 20 degrees above absolute zero with no source of energy or water, and stayed alive on the Moon in a camera for three years.
Keywords: Apollo 12 mission, life, streptococcus bacteria, survive (stayed alive).
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, Lines 3-4. & Paragraph 2, Lines 3-4.
Explanation:According to the supporting sentence, it’s clear that bacteria were discovered by the Apollo mission/craft. Candidates need to find the location of the Apollo mission (in the passage) to get the answer.

Question 16.

Answer: Beagle 2
Supporting Sentence: Beagle’s heat shield doubled as its biological shield. So once the instruments were encased and sealed, the craft could be brought back into the real world.
Keywords: Beagle’s heat shield, Beagle Project.
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, Lines 1-3, Paragraph 4, Lines 4-6.
Explanation: If you look up specific phrases in the passage. You'll discover that the goal was to use a biological shield (the Beagle shield) to produce a heated climate. So that no bacteria could survive on the outside structure.

Question 17.

Answer: Mars Express
Supporting Sentence: Mars Express – the craft carrying Beagle – did not need sterilising. Its trajectory was designed so that if something went wrong, the craft would not simply crash into the planet. Its course could be corrected enroute.
Keywords: Mars Express, en route.
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, Lines 4-6
Explanation: Supporting line means the craft was designed in a way that its direction could be changed if something unexpected happens.

Question 18.

Answer: Apollo Craft.
Supporting Sentence: Moon rocks from Apollo were analysed in vacuum glove boxes for the first two missions. Later, researchers stored rocks in nitrogen.
Keywords: Moon Rocks, Apollo
Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, lines 3-4
Explanation: Apollo craft brought material (moon rocks) which was kept in vacuum gloves at first, and then in nitrogen.

Question 19.

Answer: Galileo Probe
Supporting Sentence: In 2003, Nasa ended the Galileo probe’s mission by smashing it into Jupiter. The fear was that it could be carrying bacteria that might contaminate Europe’s oceans.
Keywords: 2003, Galileo probe
Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, lines 3-4.
Explanation: Nasa ended the Galileo probe because of the possibility of the introduction of harmful bacteria.

Question 20.

Answer: Apollo craft
Supporting Sentence: What was the most important discovery of the Apollo programme? Some have argued that it was the rocks…..
Keywords: Apollo programme
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, lines 2-4.
Explanation: Some people say that Apollo's important discovery was rocks, while others think that It was related to technological spin-offs. Here, we can see the disagreement b/w two facts.

Label the Diagram (Question 21-26)

In this section, students need to find words from the passage and fill the blanks given in the picture.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the reading passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 21 —26 on your answer sheet.

Question 21.

Answer: Cleanroom
Supporting Sentence: To reduce the workload, the idea was to build as much as possible before sterilising it and banishing it to the difficult working conditions inside the cleanroom.
Keywords: workload, sterilising
Keyword Location: paragraph 6, line 1
Explanation: Beagle had to be assembled in a ‘clear room’

Question 22.

Answer: Glass wall
Supporting Sentence: They were given information through a glass wall, over mics and monitors. And sometimes on a piece of paper stuck to the glass with sticky tape.’
Keywords: glass wall, mics
Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, lines 8-9
Explanation: They were given information through a glass wall.

Question 23.

Answer: Electronic equipment
Supporting Sentence: Electronic equipment can’t cope with those sorts of temperatures, so the team used a hydrogen peroxide plasma, created in a microwave, to kill off bugs at low temperatures. Parachutes and gas bags were zapped with gamma radiation.
Keywords: temperatures, hydrogen peroxide
Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, lines 3-5.
Explanation: The easy stuff was - heated to 115C for 52 hours, more than enough to kill off Drugs. Electronic equipment can’t cope with those sorts of temperatures.

Question 24.

Answer: Gamma radiation
Supporting Sentence: Parachutes and gas bags were zapped with gamma radiation.
Keywords: bags, zapped,
Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, lines 5-6
Explanation: Parachutes and gas bags were zapped with gamma radiation.

Question 25.

Answer: Beards and facial hair
Supporting Sentence: “There was a ban on beards and a limit of four people at any one time.”
“Parachutes and gas bags were zapped with gamma radiation. It wasn’t just facial hair that was banned.”
Keywords: beards, limit
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6 & 7, lines 2 & 6
Explanation: There was a ban on beards and a limit of four people at any one time. It wasn’t just facial hair that was banned.

Questions 26.

Answer:Fans
Supporting Sentence: It had enough room to include an enormous set of fans that circulated and filtered the air 500 times an hour.
Keywords: room, enormous
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, lines 2-3.
Explanation: It had enough room to include an enormous set of fans that circulated and filtered the air 500 times an hour.

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