sphingomonas desiccabilis sphingomonas desiccabilis sphingomonas desiccabilis is a gram-negative and non-motile bacterium from the genus of sphingomonas which has been isolated from biological soil crusts in the colorado plateau in the united states. it has been sent on the international space station in 2019 and 2020 for the biorock and bioasteroid experiments, respectively. sphingomonas desiccabilis scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: pseudomonadota class: alphaproteobacteria order: sphingomonadales family: sphingomonadaceae genus: sphingomonas binomial name sphingomonas desiccabilisreddy and garcia-pichel 2007 type strain atcc baa-1041, cip 110412, cp1d, dsm 16792