China Has Found a ‘Vital’ Element for Colonizing Mars That Can Resist Conditions That Are Deadly to Other Life Forms

When Ridley Scott’s movie The Martian (adapted from a book by Andy Weir) was released, where an astronaut played by Matt Damon gets stranded on the Red Planet, everyone asked the same question: Could humans survive on Mars by growing potatoes or whatever? Until now, the question hasn’t been answered in a satisfactory way for potential colonists. But China has come up with something.

Green. The news takes us to Antarctica or the Mojave Desert. A group of Chinese researchers has discovered that Syntrichia caninervis, a moss found in the most “inhospitable” regions of our planet, can withstand Mars-like conditions, including drought, elevated levels of radiation, and extreme cold. In other words, it can survive deadly environmental conditions that are lethal to all other life forms.

The research team claims their work is the first to analyze the survival of entire plants in such an environment while also focusing on the potential of growing plants on the planet’s surface rather than in greenhouses. “The unique insights obtained in our study lay the foundation for outer space colonization using naturally selected plants adapted to extreme stress conditions,” they say.

A moss that regenerates. The research, published in The Innovation, describes how the desert moss survived and quickly recovered from almost complete dehydration. In fact, it was able to regenerate under normal growing conditions after spending up to five years at -112 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 30 days at -320 degrees Fahrenheit in liquid nitrogen and after exposure to gamma rays, with doses as high as 500 Gy even promoting new growth (50 Gy is enough to cause seizures and death in humans).

Mimicking Mars. The team then created Mars-like conditions, including an atmosphere with 95% carbon dioxide, temperatures ranging from -76 degrees Fahrenheit to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, elevated levels of ultraviolet radiation, and low atmospheric pressure.

What happened? The moss survived and regenerated under normal growing conditions, even after seven days of exposure. Finally, they observed that plants that they dried before such exposure fared better.

A long-term study. We’ve known for a long time that if we want to colonize Mars, it’s essential to learn how to grow crops on the Red Planet. That’s why many projects are being carried out in parallel, from agricultural capsules to the search for innovative fertilization and cultivation techniques. However, the planet has many drawbacks, such as being too rich in iron oxides.

The moss discovery could help enrich and transform the rocky material on the Martian surface, allowing other plants to grow.

Professor Stuart McDaniel of the University of Florida told The Guardian: “Cultivating terrestrial plants is an important part of any long-term space mission because plants efficiently turn carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates—essentially the air and food humans need to survive. Desert moss is not edible but could provide other important services in space.”

Moss’s future. As with all such studies, the researchers need to do more testing. For example, one environmental factor the team didn’t address was the effect of perchlorate, a toxic and corrosive chemical believed to be widespread in Martian soils. In this regard, David Eldridge of the University of New Wales in Sydney says that for moss to thrive, it needs some relief from extreme cold and desiccation, but on Mars, unlike Earth, such conditions are unforgiving.

Like other researchers, Eldridge thinks the finding is a fantastic step forward: “If there’s any plant that can live on Mars, it’s this moss,” but he has doubts on whether it will thrive. In any case, the issue isn’t whether a moss will survive on Mars but the consequences of having it there. According to professor Sharon Robinson of the University of Wollongong, Australia, “If they photosynthesize, they could produce a little oxygen.”

Mars might even be home to tardigrades, the species that seems able to withstand anything. Who knows.

Image | Kevin Gill | John Game | Darkone

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