Antarctic Fungi May Survive on Mars: How Likely Life is on the Red Planet

Could life exist on Mars? Scientists have gathered tiny fungi that take shelter in Antarctic rocks and have found that after sending them to the International Space Station, they were able to survive in conditions similar to those on Mars.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys, which are located in the Antarctic Victoria Land, are considered to be the most similar earthly equivalent to Mars. They make up one of the driest and most hostile environments on our planet, where strong winds scour away even snow and ice. Only cryptoendolithic microorganisms, which can survive in cracks in rocks, and certain lichens can withstand the harsh conditions found here.

A few years ago, European researchers collected samples of two species of cryptoendolithic fungi. The aim was to send them to the ISS for them to be subjected to Martian conditions and space.

The researchers played the tiny fungi in cells on a platform for experiments known as EXPOSE-E, developed by the ESA to withstand extreme environments. The platform was sent in the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the ISS and placed outside the Columbus module with the help of an astronaut.

For 18 months, the fungi were exposed to Mars-like conditions. This is an atmosphere with 95 percent CO2, 1.6 percent argon, .15 percent oxygen, 2.7 percent nitrogen and 370 parts per million of H2O, and a pressure of 1,000 pascals. Through optical filters, samples were subjected to ultra-violet radiation as if on Mars and to lower radiation, including separate control samples.

"The most relevant outcome was that more than 60 percent of the cells of the endolithic communities studied remained intact after 'exposure to Mars,' or rather, the stability of their cellular DNA was still high," said Rosa de la Torre Noetzel, one of the researchers, in a news release. "The results help to assess the survival ability and long-term stability of microorganisms and bioindicators on the surface of Mars, information which becomes fundamental and relevant for future experiments centered around the search for life on the red planet."

The findings are published in the journal Astrobiology.

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