On May 17, 2025, Chinese scientists announced they have discovered a new microbe that developed on board the county’s Tiangong space station, according to a new study.

The strain, officially named niallia tiangongensis, is a new variant of a previously known terrestrial bacteria and was found on a cabin in the space station.

The discovery was announced by researchers from the Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.