Antarctica breakthrough: How scientists made 'astonishing' life on Mars discovery

Here's one for those that laugh at the possibility of life on Mars and say things like "nothing could live on that surface". I realize there are other factors that are present on the surface of Mars that could limit life.

But life will adapt to most anything and not just survive but thrive. “So far from being a desert with no potential, the Red Planet could be a fertile ground for certain organisms.”

“It’s impressive, we never imagined these results, especially with more complex organisms.

“They are not bacteria, they’re organisms, which use photosynthesis.

“Life is possible on Mars, and Mars can be a habitat for organisms that live on Earth.”

Antarctica breakthrough: How scientists made 'astonishing' life on Mars discovery

At a German research center Dr Jean-Pierre Paul De Vera has a Martian chamber. In the chamber the researcher can control: temperature, UV rays, chemical composition and atmospheric pressure with precision.

In the chamber under Martian conditions life thrived. “Nine days after exposure, the liken showed astonishing results, it didn’t just survive, it was thriving."

Talking about cyanobacteria, have you seen the rover images coming down lately?

I have not seen any of Amazon Prime’s “Tomorrow’s World”. Gonna check it out soon. Anyone seen any and if so how was it?

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Of course there's life elsewhere.....There's an element to life where it develops RELATIVE to the environment it's in. The universe is alive and it will be easier to find "life" once people realize this.

Life will always find a way. Always. Mostly algae and bacteria, the pioneer organisms are abundant in the universe and they don't quit. beam me up hotty....

Nothing special, really.

We already knew that life, after appearing, does its best to adapt to circumstances and survive, so it's not surprising that organisms that live in similar conditions on Earth can live in a replica of Mars.

What we need to know is if live ever appeared on Mars in the first place, and we haven't found any proof of that yet.

a reply to: ArMaP

Nothing special, really.

That's true.

I have seen it stated many times on ATS that nothing could live on the surface of Mars. So it's just a little evidence that, that is not true.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

I can't find info on what he actually exposed them to, I would bet $1 million he did not expose them to Mars like radiation conditions. Can anyone find what he actually did?

a reply to: ArMaP

I don't know of any Earth life that can survive on Mars. Deinococcus radiodurans is the most radiation resistant life I know of and even that would die off after a few million years. And that had the advantage of developing on Earth under ideal conditions and changing over time into what it is today.

Now if we are talking about underground, where they are not exposed to radiation, and there may be more favorable conditions, who knows. I don't know any Earth organism that can survive the surface of Mars though.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: LookingAtMars

I can't find info on what he actually exposed them to, I would bet $1 million he did not expose them to Mars like radiation conditions. Can anyone find what he actually did?

The only thing the story says as far as radiation is UV rays. May have to watch the “Tomorrow’s World” episode to find out.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
I have seen it stated many times on ATS that nothing could live on the surface of Mars. So it's just a little evidence that, that is not true.

Not really, it's evidence that some things can live on conditions we think are similar to those on Mars. We can only be sure if we do the experiments on Mars. But it's a really good indication that it's possible for extremophiles to exist today on Mars.

Although it's hard to know what that article is talking about (as they are repeating what appeared on a TV show, apparently), it looks like they are talking about the BIOMEX experiment, ran aboard the ISS from 2014 to 2016 and for which the first results were published on March 2019.

Limits of Life and the Habitability of Mars: The ESA Space Experiment BIOMEX on the ISS

originally posted by: LookingAtMars

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: LookingAtMars

I can't find info on what he actually exposed them to, I would bet $1 million he did not expose them to Mars like radiation conditions. Can anyone find what he actually did?

The only thing the story says as far as radiation is UV rays. May have to watch the “Tomorrow’s World” episode to find out.

UV rays are hardly the biggest threat on Mars, when solar flares hit they are exposed to severe radiation. I would bet $1 mil he did not expose the lichen to that level of radiation, which means it was not Mars conditions.

Best bet for life on Mars is underground.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

I am not too worried about what is on the surface anyway. Under the soil is where I think we will find the "good stuff".

a reply to: ArMaP

He reran a 2012 experiment using liken.

He added: “In 2012, Dr Paul De Vera showed that cyanobacteria present on Earth for 3.5 billion years could survive several weeks in the Martian chamber without a problem.

Are you going to answer Occams post to you or just nitpick mine?

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
I don't know of any Earth life that can survive on Mars.

Neither do I or, I suppose, anyone else, as nobody has taken any living organism to Mars to make the experiment.

Deinococcus radiodurans is the most radiation resistant life I know of and even that would die off after a few million years. And that had the advantage of developing on Earth under ideal conditions and changing over time into what it is today.

They would have more than enough time to adapt to Mars conditions.

a reply to: ArMaP

Neither do I or, I suppose, anyone else, as nobody has taken any living organism to Mars to make the experiment.

That is what I was thinking.

Have we ever sent a Geiger counter to Mars?

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
He reran a 2012 experiment using liken.

As I said, it's hard (at least for me) to understand if they were talking about this recent experiment of about something else.

Are you going to answer Occams post to you or just nitpick mine?

I usually answer posts in chronological order, and which ones I answer is none of your business.

originally posted by: LookingAtMars
Have we ever sent a Geiger counter to Mars?

More or less, Curiosity has a German instrument, the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD).

a reply to: ArMaP

The narrator went on to reveal how the researchers repeated their experiment using organisms from the South Pole.

I think we have to watch it to find out more.

which ones I answer is none of your business

Doesn't mean I can't ask if I am curious.

I was going to answer back if you were not.

a reply to: ArMaP

The MER's had something too I thought.

I think it's accuracy has been questioned, if I remember correctly.


ETA- It was ODY.

www.universetoday.com...

Over the course of about 18 months, the Mars Odyssey probe detected ongoing radiation levels which are 2.5 times higher than what astronauts experience on the International Space Station – 22 millirads per day, which works out to 8000 millirads (8 rads) per year. The spacecraft also detected 2 solar proton events, where radiation levels peaked at about 2,000 millirads in a day, and a few other events that got up to about 100 millirads.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: ArMaP

I don't know of any Earth life that can survive on Mars. Deinococcus radiodurans is the most radiation resistant life I know of and even that would die off after a few million years. And that had the advantage of developing on Earth under ideal conditions and changing over time into what it is today.

Now if we are talking about underground, where they are not exposed to radiation, and there may be more favorable conditions, who knows. I don't know any Earth organism that can survive the surface of Mars though.

Found your source and there is more to the story.

However, inferred recurring climate changes in the post-Noachian era, due to variations in the planetary obliquity on time scalesof several hundred thousand to a few million years (45), could lead to recurring periods of metabolic activity of these otherwise dormant life forms. In this case, it is hypothesized that accumulated radiation damag-es could be repaired and the “survival clock” of such life forms could be reset to zero for the next dormant phase (26, 28), which could in turn lead to possible survival to present times. It has been (27) estimated that a 2-m depth drill was necessary to access viable radioresistant cells that may have gone through this reanimation step within 450,000 years. Ap-plying the RAD dose results, we estimate that only a 1-m depth drill is necessary to access the same viable radioresistant cells.

Mars’ Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity Rover