Mars Tolerant Antarctic Fungi Survive on International Space Station

Summary: Mars tolerant Antarctic fungi and high-mountain lichens handle 18 months of Mars simulations better than space exposures on the International Space Station.

EXPOSE-E platform containing two Antarctic fungi and two high-mountain lichen species; research team members pose before EXPOSE-E platform is sent to the International Space Station: Silvano Onofri et al., no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert!

Mars tolerant Antarctic fungi are high on lists of what is, may be or was sustainable on Mars, according to a study published Dec. 18, 2015, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Astrobiology.

Nine co-researchers and co-writers base their findings upon 18 months of experiments conducted on the EXPOSE-E platform outside the Columbus module of the International Space Station. Cryomyces antarcticus (Antarctic hidden mushroom) and Cryomyces minteri (David W. Minter’s hidden mushroom) comprise the two species whose native endolithic (within stone) habitat niches are rocks. Rosa de la Torre Noetzel of Spain’s National Institute of Aerospace Technology in Torrejón de Ardoz describes “more than 60 percent of the cells” remaining intact.

Experiments by Frank de Winne’s team end successfully since “the stability of their cellular DNA was still high.”

The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Victoria Land, Antarctica, furnish the two cryptoendolithic (hidden within stone) fungi species selected by the researchers for the International Space Station.

McMurdo’s dry, hostile climate and geography of storms scouring soils free of ice and snow give scientists approximations of what Mars has in store for life. The European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have plans to launch ExoMars and 2020 Mars life-hunting rovers respectively in 2018 and 2020. Dr. de la Torre indicates “fundamental and relevant for future experiments centered around the search for life” are “survival ability and long-term stability” of Antarctic fungi.

Growable plants such as Mars tolerant Antarctic fungi join breathable air, drinkable water and edible food as Mars mission priorities.

Section of rock colonized by cryptoendolithic microorganisms (left) and the Cryomyces fungi in quartz crystals under an electron microscope (right): Silvano Onofri et al., no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert!

Experiments also keep track of two high-mountain lichen species, Rhizocarpon geographicum from the Sierra de Gredos in Avila, Spain, and Xantharia elegans from the Austrian Alps.

They lead to the Antarctic fungi and high-mountain lichens being organized into groups, with one being exposed to Mars-like conditions and the other to space environments. Extreme space means radiation of 190 megagrays, temperatures between -21.5 and +59.6 degrees Celsius (-6.7 and 139.28 degrees Fahrenheit) and vacuums of 10-7 to 10-4 pascals. Experiments necessitate for Mars-like conditions atmospheres 0.15 percent oxygen, 1.6 percent argon, 2.7 percent nitrogen, 95 percent carbon dioxide and 370 parts per million of water.

The EXPOSE-E platform operates at the Mars-like pressure of 1,000 pascals and the Mars-like ultra-violet radiation exposure above 200 nanometers.

Elaboration of the Lichens and Fungi Experiment, abbreviated to LIFE, prompts placement of the fungi and lichens in cells 1.4 centimeters (0.55 inches) in diameter each.

The LIFE experiments exposing one-half of the fungi and one-half of the lichens to extreme space conditions qualifies as far less reassuring than the Mars simulations. They reveal low viability and subdued photosynthesis for the fungi, at 4.11 percent, and for the lichens, at 2.5 percent, after exposure to space’s harsh conditions. They show for the lichens in the Mars simulations metabolic activities that are respectively 80 percent and twice those of the space-exposed Xanthoria and Rhizocarpon species.

Follow-up experiments also take place on the International Space Station, where the Mars tolerant Antarctic fungi interact with Martian soil.

Astronaut affixes the EXPOSE-E platform, containing two fungi species from Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys and two high-mountain lichen species from Spain and the Austrian Alps, to the Columbus module of the International Space Station: European Space Agency, no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert!

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

EXPOSE-E platform affixed to International Space Station: European Space Agency, no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert! @ http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/107708.php?from=317518

Section of rock colonized by cryptoendolithic microorganisms (left) and the Cryomyces fungi in quartz crystals under an electron microscope (right): Silvano Onofri et al., no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/107710.php?from=317518

"An astronaut fixes the EXPOSE-E platform onto the International Space Station.": Silvano Onofri et al., no usage restrictions, via EurekAlert! @ http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/107709.php?from=317518

For further information:

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