Scientists Discover Desert Moss 'Can Survive on Mars' | Mars

While Matt Damon relied on potatoes grown in the crew's biological waste to survive in The Martian, researchers say it's a humble desert moss that could be key to establishing life on Mars.

Scientists in China say they have found Syntricia Cannerface – an algae found in areas including Antarctica and the Mojave Desert – is able to withstand Mars-like conditions, including drought, high radiation levels and extreme cold.

The team says their work is the first to look at the survival of entire plants in such an environment, while also focusing on the possibility of growing plants on the planet's surface, rather than in greenhouses.

“The unique insights obtained in our study form the basis for colonizing outer space using naturally selected plants that are adapted to extreme stress conditions,” the team wrote.

Professor Stuart McDaniel, an algae expert at the University of Florida who was not involved in the study, noted that the idea has merit.

“Cultivating terrestrial plants is an important part of any long-term space mission because plants efficiently convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates — the air and food humans need to survive,” he said. Desert algae is not edible, but it can provide important services. Others in space.

Dr Agata Szubanska, of the SETI Institute, agreed, noting that algae could help enrich and transform rocky material on the surface of Mars to enable other plants to grow.

“Otherwise, the moss isn't tasty and doesn't make a great addition to a salad,” she said.

Writing in Innovation MagazineResearchers in China describe how a desert moss not only survived, but quickly recovered from near-total desiccation. It was also able to regenerate under normal growing conditions after spending up to five years at -80°C and up to 30 days at -196°C, and after exposure to gamma rays, at doses of around 500 grays, even promoted new growth.

The team then created an environment with pressures, temperatures, gases and ultraviolet radiation similar to those found on Mars. The team found that the moss survived in a Martian-like environment and was able to regenerate under normal growth conditions, even after seven days of exposure. The team also noticed that plants that dried before exposure to this type of radiation fared better.

“Looking to the future, we expect this promising alga to be transported to Mars or the Moon to further test the potential for plants to colonize and grow in outer space,” the researchers wrote.

McDaniel noted that most plants cannot withstand the stresses of space travel.

“This paper is exciting because it shows that desert mosses survive short-term exposure to some of the stresses that would likely exist during a mission to Mars, including very high levels of radiation, very cold temperatures, and very low levels of oxygen.” He said.

But he added that the research has limitations.

“These experiments are an important first step, but they do not show that algae can be an important source of oxygen under Martian conditions, nor do they show that desert algae can proliferate and reproduce in the Martian context,” McDaniel said.

Among other problems, the study did not test the effects of particulate radiation, Zubanska added.

“In my opinion, we are getting closer to growing plants in greenhouses outside of Earth, and algae certainly have a place there,” she said. “To suggest that algae, or any other pioneer species, are ready to terraform Mars, or any other exoplanet, is a stretch.”

Dr. Wieger Wamelink of Wageningen University also raised concerns, including that temperatures on the Red Planet rarely exceed freezing, making it impossible to grow plants outdoors, while the new study did not use Mars-like soil.

“The algae was processed under Martian conditions for a maximum of several days and then re-grew under Earth conditions on sand. This, of course, does not prove at all that they can grow under Martian conditions,” he said.

However, Professor Edward Guinan from Villanova University in the US described the study as impressive.

“This hardy moss could be a promising pioneer plant for colonizing Mars,” he said, although he noted that the moss would need water to grow.

“We have a long way to go,” he said. “But this humble desert moss offers hope for making small parts of Mars habitable for humanity in the future.”