Desert moss that can survive on Mars has been discovered: it will help the origin of life

«We have a long way to go»

Scientists have found desert moss «that can survive on Mars.» Moss growing in the Mojave Desert and Antarctica may help the emergence of life on the Red Planet, say researchers.

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

While Matt Damon's character in the hit film The Martian used potatoes grown from the crew's biological waste to survive, researchers say it is the humble desert moss that could prove key to the emergence of life on Mars, The Guardian reports.

Scientists in China say they have discovered that Syntrichia caninervis — a moss native to regions such as Antarctica and the Mojave Desert — can withstand conditions similar to those on Mars, including drought, high radiation and extreme cold.

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

“Unique results «The results obtained from our study lay the foundation for the colonization of outer space using naturally selected plants adapted to extreme stress conditions,» write the study authors.

Professor Stuart McDaniel, a moss expert at the University of Florida who was not involved in the study, suggested the idea had merit.

“Growing land plants is an important part of any long-term space mission because plants efficiently convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates — essentially, into the air and food that people need to survive. Desert moss is inedible, but it can provide other important services in space, he said.

Dr. Agata Zupanska from the SETI Institute agreed, noting that moss could help enrich and transform rocky material found on the surface of Mars to allow other plants to grow.

“Otherwise, moss is unpalatable and unpalatable will be an excellent addition to the salad,” she said.

In a paper published in the journal The Innovation, researchers from China describe how desert moss not only survived, but quickly recovered from near-total dehydration. It was also capable of regeneration under normal growth conditions, having spent up to five years at -80°C and up to 30 days at -196°C, and after exposure to gamma rays at doses of about 500 GH, which even promoted new growth .

The team then created an environment in which the pressure, temperature, gases and ultraviolet radiation were the same as on Mars. It turned out that the moss survived conditions similar to those found on Mars and was able to recover under normal growth conditions even after seven days of exposure. The team also noted that plants that were dried before this exposure performed better.

“Looking to the future, we expect that this promising moss could be taken to Mars or the Moon to further test the possibility of colonization and plant growth in outer space,” the researchers write.

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

«This paper is interesting because it shows that desert moss can withstand short-term exposure to some of the stresses that would likely occur during a mission to Mars, including very high levels of radiation, very low temperatures and very low oxygen levels,» he said.

But he added that the study has its limitations.

«These experiments represent an important first step, but they do not show that moss could be an important source of oxygen in Martian conditions, nor do they show that desert moss can thrive in Martian conditions,» McDaniel said.

Zupanska added that, among other problems, the study did not test the effects of particulate radiation.

“In my opinion, we are getting closer to growing plants in extraterrestrial greenhouses, and moss is certainly there is a place in them,” she said. “To suggest that moss or any other pioneer species is ready to terraform Mars or any other outer planet is an exaggeration.”

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

“The mosses were processed in Mars conditions for a few days at most, and then grown again in terrestrial conditions on sand, he said. “This, of course, does not mean at all that they can grow in Mars conditions.”

However, Professor Edward Guinan from Villanova University in the USA called the results of the study impressive.

“This is extreme resilient moss could be a promising pioneer plant for the colonization of Mars,” he said, although he noted that moss will need water to grow.

“We have a long way to go,” he said. “But this humble desert moss gives hope that in the future small areas of Mars will become suitable for human life.”