Scientists at NASA have named a new organism discovered by them after the late president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, the foremost lab of NASA for work on inter-planetary travel, discovered the new bacteria on the filters of the International Space Station, ISS, and named it Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president. <br/><br/>The species name, kalamii, is after the renowned aerospace scientist and genus name is Solibacillus, which is a spore forming bacteria. The filter on which the new bug was found remained on board the International Space Station for 40 months.<br/><br/>Till date, the new organism, a form of a bacteria, has been found only on the ISS, and has not been found on earth. Kalam had his early training at NASA in 1963 before he set up India's first rocket-launching facility in the fishing village of Thumba in Kerala.<br/>

Scientists at NASA have named a new organism discovered by them after the late president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, the foremost lab of NASA for work on inter-planetary travel, discovered the new bacteria on the filters of the International Space Station, ISS, and named it Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president. <br/><br/>The species name, kalamii, is after the renowned aerospace scientist and genus name is Solibacillus, which is a spore forming bacteria. The filter on which the new bug was found remained on board the International Space Station for 40 months.<br/><br/>Till date, the new organism, a form of a bacteria, has been found only on the ISS, and has not been found on earth. Kalam had his early training at NASA in 1963 before he set up India's first rocket-launching facility in the fishing village of Thumba in Kerala.<br/>