Space & Astronomy

Can bacteria survive on Mars ?

By T.K. Randall
December 17, 2012 ·  18 comments

Image Credit: sxc.hu While the search for alien life is mostly concerned with the search for conditions similar to those we see here on Earth, it is not a foregone conclusion that life couldn't exist in environments that we would normally consider inhospitable. NASA scientists have put this to the test by creating a low-atmospheric-pressure environment here on Earth in which to simulate the conditions on Mars.

The results indicated that even common bacteria were able to survive under the simulated conditions and that other microbes that have evolved to survive in extreme environments would fare even better. "Just because the planet doesn't have a large atmosphere, we don't have to dismiss it right away as non-habitable," said team leader Alexander Pavlov.[!gad]While the search for alien life is mostly concerned with the search for conditions similar to those we see here on Earth, it is not a foregone conclusion that life couldn't exist in environments that we would normally consider inhospitable. NASA scientists have put this to the test by creating a low-atmospheric-pressure environment here on Earth in which to simulate the conditions on Mars.

The results indicated that even common bacteria were able to survive under the simulated conditions and that other microbes that have evolved to survive in extreme environments would fare even better. "Just because the planet doesn't have a large atmosphere, we don't have to dismiss it right away as non-habitable," said team leader Alexander Pavlov.

Source: Wired | Comments (18)

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