{"id":1584,"date":"2024-08-01T19:15:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T16:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/?p=1584"},"modified":"2026-02-18T19:38:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:38:50","slug":"scientists-are-preparing-to-populate-and-terraform-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/2024\/08\/01\/scientists-are-preparing-to-populate-and-terraform-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists are preparing to populate and terraform Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

We could terraform Mars with desert moss. Among its recent discoveries, the rover found rocks made of pure sulfur. From October 2023, the rover will explore a region of Mars rich in sulfates, a type of salt containing sulfur and formed when water evaporates. NASA finds ice on Mars with new map. NASA selects commercial service research to support robotic science on Mars. owe Industries is currently developing a propulsion system that can generate up to 100,000 N of thrust with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, the high efficiency of the system allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed in just two months.<\/p>\n

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Earth desert moss is able to withstand the Martian climate.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0It almost always comes back to life even if it has lost more than 98% of its water reserves, and it is able to withstand “Martian” temperatures for three and five years.<\/p>\n

Chinese biologists have discovered that the desert moss Syntrichia caninervis can survive complete dehydration and still come back to life after spending about five years at minus 80 degrees Celsius or about a month at minus 196 degrees Celsius. This makes the moss suitable for colonizing Mars, they write in an article in the scientific journal Innovation.<\/p>\n

“Our experiments show that Syntrichia caninervis has a higher resistance to adverse environmental conditions than other super-resistant organisms, including extremophile microbes and tardigrades. This makes this moss a promising candidate for the role of a “pioneer” organism for the colonization of extraterrestrial habitats and the formation of an environment favorable for human life beyond Earth,” the researchers write.<\/p>\n

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\nMars. NASA\/JPL\/MSSS<\/em><\/p>\n

This conclusion was reached by a group of Chinese biologists led by Zhang Daoyuan, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Urumqi, during a comprehensive study of the life of moss of the Syntrichia caninervis species, which is found in most desert regions of the Earth. This type of vegetation is able to withstand sharp temperature changes and a constant lack of moisture, which makes it especially interesting for study in the context of colonizing other planets.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, the researchers tracked how the desert moss responded to conditions typical of Mars, the closest planet to Earth where life may have existed in the past. These experiments examined how Syntrichia caninervis responded to prolonged dehydration, as well as to prolonged temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius, which is typical of the equatorial regions of Mars during the winter.<\/p>\n

Experiments have shown that this species of desert moss almost always returns to life even if it has lost more than 98% of its water reserves, and it is able to withstand \u201cMartian\u201d temperatures for three and five years. Moreover, studies have shown that Syntrichia caninervis is able to return to life even after a month of immersion in liquid nitrogen.<\/p>\n

In addition, it was found that moss tolerates very large doses of gamma radiation, about 1,000 gray (over 110,000 biological equivalents of roentgens), without any visible consequences for the regeneration and growth rate of this plant. This makes it an ideal candidate for the role of a “pioneer” organism for the colonization of Mars and other planets with a climate remotely similar to Earth, the researchers concluded.<\/p>\n

Desert moss could be the key to terraforming Mars, according to a recent study published by Chinese scientists.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to its extraordinary resilience, Syntrichia caninervis (S. caninervis), a moss that grows in extreme desert environments from Tibet to Antarctica, has been called a \u201cpioneer plant\u201d for creating a habitable environment on Mars. In fact, scientists believe the plant could enrich the planet\u2019s rocky surface, allowing other plants to grow, The Innovation reported on July 1, 2024.<\/p>\n

Several studies have explored alternatives to these terraforming seeds, such as algae and lichens. \u201cHowever, plants such as mosses offer key advantages for terraforming, including stress tolerance, high photoautotrophic growth capacity, and the potential to produce significant amounts of biomass in challenging environments,\u201d the new study team wrote in the paper.<\/p>\n

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\nMoss Syntrichia caninervis. USDA-NRCS PLANTS<\/em><\/p>\n

Mosses are thought to have been the first true land plants on Earth. As such, they developed resistance to extreme stress, allowing them to survive the very harsh conditions of early life on our planet.<\/p>\n

The scientists exposed whole S. caninervis plants to conditions typical of Mars: high doses of gamma radiation, low oxygen levels, extreme cold and drought. They report that the plants could withstand combinations of these conditions, even losing more than 98% of their water content and still recover within seconds \u2013 \u201cdesiccation without death\u201d was the term used. Perhaps even more astonishing is the plant\u2019s ability to recover and regrow branches after being stored in a freezer at -80 degrees Celsius (-112 degrees Fahrenheit) for five years, or in liquid nitrogen (-195.8 degrees Celsius; -320.44 degrees Fahrenheit) for one month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unique morphological features of S. caninervis, such as the rolled leaves, conserve water by minimizing surface area and reducing transpiration, while the awns provide effective photoprotection against intense UV radiation, extreme temperatures, and water loss,\u201d the team writes. \u201cMeanwhile, the cell wall, cell membrane, and chloroplast and its membrane structure remain intact even in a completely dehydrated state.\u201d<\/p>\n

When stressed, S. caninervis enters a state of \u201cselective metabolic dormancy,\u201d strategically conserving key metabolites\u2014products of cellular metabolic pathways\u2014needed for its rapid recovery. \u201cFor example, S. caninervis plants maintain high levels of sucrose and maltose after stress; these sugars serve as osmotic agents and protective substances that help maintain and stabilize cellular architecture,\u201d the scientists write. \u201cThe sugars subsequently provide the energy needed for rapid recovery after stress conditions are relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stress also activates genes that code for photoprotective proteins and enzymes that help clear harmful reactive oxygen species produced by radiation. \u201cMultilayer tolerance provides protection under stressful conditions and ensures rapid recovery of cells and physiological activity when conditions suitable for growth occur,\u201d the team said.<\/p>\n

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\nA visualization of what Mars might look like over time if humans were able to terraform the planet. CC BY-SA<\/em><\/p>\n

These findings, the scientists continue, lay the groundwork for creating sustainable human habitats beyond Earth. Whether this claim is an exaggeration will depend on future experiments \u2013 and may not even be achievable in our lifetimes \u2013 but one important element missing from the discussion is not the feasibility of the science, but the ethics behind it.<\/p>\n

This concept of terraforming another planet is not new and has its roots in science fiction. And while the concept has been romanticized and discussed in the media in recent times, there are serious concerns about the extraterrestrial social consequences of completely converting an entire planet for human habitation.<\/p>\n

For example, in an essay titled \u201cThe Thorny Ethics of Planetary Engineering,\u201d astrophysicist and NASA researcher Erika Nesvold puts the dilemma quite clearly: \u201cThe goal of terraforming is to intentionally create an entire ecosystem on a global scale, which would likely destroy any existing ecosystem,\u201d she wrote. \u201cTerraforming technology may even become feasible before we have definitively determined whether alien life exists on the planet or moon we hope to transform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut suppose we find evidence of microbial life on a planet like Mars,\u201d she continued. \u201cShould that disqualify Mars from being a terraforming target? Should we avoid settling Mars altogether?\u201d<\/p>\n

Among its recent discoveries, the rover found rocks made of pure sulfur \u2014 a first on the Red Planet.<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Scientists were stunned on May 30, 2024, when a rock the Curiosity rover drove over cracked, revealing something never seen before on the Red Planet: yellow sulfur crystals.<\/p>\n

Since October 2023, the rover has been exploring a region of Mars rich in sulfates, a type of salt containing sulfur that forms when water evaporates. But where sulfur-based minerals \u2014 in other words, a mix of sulfur and other materials \u2014 have been found in the past, the rock Curiosity recently uncovered is made of elemental, or pure, sulfur. It\u2019s unclear what, if any, relationship the elemental sulfur has to other sulfur-based minerals in the area.<\/p>\n

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\nThese yellow crystals were discovered after the rover ran over and cracked a rock on May 30. Using a tool on the rover’s robotic arm, scientists later determined that the crystals were elemental sulfur \u2014 the first time that type of sulfur has been found on Mars. NASA<\/em><\/p>\n

While people associate sulfur with the smell of rotten eggs (a result of hydrogen sulfide being released), elemental sulfur is odorless. It forms only under a narrow range of conditions that scientists don\u2019t connect to the history of the place. And Curiosity found it in abundance \u2014 a field of brightly colored rocks similar to the one the rover crushed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding a rock field made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,\u201d said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be there, so now we have to explain it. Finding weird and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nSnow Lake Rock. June 8, 2024, on the 4209th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Nine days earlier, the rover had crushed a similar-looking rock and found crystalline structures and elemental sulfur inside.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of several discoveries Curiosity has made while driving off-road in the Gediz Vallis Channel, a trench that snakes down a section of the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) Mount Sharp that the rover has been climbing to since 2014. Each layer of the mountain represents a different period of Martian history. Curiosity\u2019s mission is to study where and when the planet\u2019s ancient terrain might have provided the nutrients needed for microbial life, if it ever formed on Mars.<\/p>\n

Spotted from space several years before Curiosity launched, the Gediz Vallis Channel is one of the main reasons the science team wanted to visit this part of Mars. Scientists believe the channel was carved by flows of liquid water and debris that left a ridge of boulders and sediment that extends 2 miles down the mountainside below the channel. The goal was to better understand how this landscape changed billions of years ago, and while recent clues have helped, there is still much to learn from this dramatic landscape.<\/p>\n

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\nNASA’s Curiosity rover captured this image of the Gediz Valley channel on March 31. The area was likely formed by strong flows of water and debris that piled up piles of rocks in the channel. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/em><\/p>\n

Since Curiosity arrived in the canal earlier this year, scientists have been studying whether the large mounds of debris that rise from the canal floor were formed by ancient floods or landslides. Curiosity\u2019s latest data suggests both played a role: Some mounds were likely left behind by strong flows of water and debris, while others appear to be the result of more localized landslides.<\/p>\n

These conclusions are based on the rocks found in the debris mounds: while rocks carried by water currents are rounded like river rocks, some of the debris mounds are strewn with more angular rocks that may have been deposited by dry avalanches.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the water soaked up all the material that had settled there. Chemical reactions caused by the water discolored the white “halo” shapes on some of the rocks. Erosion from wind and sand over time revealed these halo shapes.<\/p>\n

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\nWhile exploring the Gediz Vallis Channel in May, NASA’s Curiosity captured this image of rocks that are pale in color around the edges. These rings, also called halos, resemble markings seen on Earth when groundwater seeps into rocks through cracks, causing chemical reactions that change color. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis hasn\u2019t been a quiet time on Mars,\u201d said Becky Williams, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and deputy principal investigator of Curiosity\u2019s Mast Camera (Mastcam). \u201cThere\u2019s been a fascinating amount of activity here. We\u2019re seeing several flows down the channel, including energetic floods and boulder-rich flows.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this evidence of water continues to tell a more complex story than the team initially expected, and they were eager to take a rock sample from the canal to learn more. On June 18, they got their chance.<\/p>\n