While Matt Damon relied on potatoes grown from the crew’s biological waste to survive in the hit movie “The Martian,” a research team says it’s a humble desert moss that could hold the key to establishing life on Earth. Mars. Scientists in China say they have discovered that Syntrichia caninervis, a moss found in places like Antarctica and California’s Mojave Desert, is capable of withstanding Martian-like conditions such as drought, high levels of radiation and extreme cold.
The research team, led by scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, says their study is the first to examine the survival of entire plants in such an environment, while also focusing on the possibility of growing plants on the Martian surface rather than in greenhouses. “The unique insights gained from our study lay the foundation for the colonization of outer space using naturally selected plants adapted to conditions of extreme stress,” the team reports.
“Growing terrestrial plants is an important part of any long-term space mission because plants efficiently convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates, essentially the air and food humans need to survive. Desert moss is not edible, but it could provide other important services in space.”
says Professor Stuart McDaniel, a moss expert at the University of Florida who was not involved in the study
Dr. Agata Zupanska of the SETI Institute agreed, noting that mosses could help enrich and transform the rocky material found on the Martian surface to allow other plants to grow. “Otherwise, the moss doesn’t taste good and it’s not a great addition to a salad,” she said.
Discovery
With Publication In the journal The Innovation, the researchers describe how the desert mosses not only survived but also recovered rapidly from near-complete dehydration. They were 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, with doses of around 500 Gy even promoting new growth.
The team then created a setup that had pressures, temperatures, gases and UV radiation similar to those on Mars. They found that the moss survived in this Martian-like environment and was able to regenerate under normal growing conditions, even after seven days of exposure.
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