Chinese biologists discover a plant suitable for living in Martian conditions

Chinese biologists have announced that desert mosses can withstand the Martian climate, and the higher species Syntrichia Caninervis can withstand complete drought and come back to life.

The scientific journal Innovation indicates that the researchers conducted experiments that lasted about 5 years, during which desert algae were placed in conditions of a temperature of minus 80 degrees Celsius and during a month in conditions of a temperature of minus 196 degrees Celsius. It turns out that it is resistant to adverse environmental conditions compared to other plants, including harsh microbes.

"This 'superpower' makes desert mosses a promising candidate for pioneering the colonization of celestial bodies and creating a habitable environment for humans," said Zhang Daoyuan of the Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Urumqi, who oversees the project.

Zhang Daoyuan and his team tested how desert moss shoots would respond to typical Mars conditions. Mars is the closest planet to Earth and is thought to have been habitable in the past. To do this, they created conditions for the shoots that mimic those in the tropics of Mars during the winter.

It is noteworthy that the Syntrichia Caninervis plant almost always comes back to life, even if it loses 98 percent of its water supply and after being immersed for a month in liquid nitrogen. This plant is able to withstand "Martian" winters for three and five years. It also tolerates very large doses of gamma radiation, in the range of a thousand Gray - more than 110 thousand Rem (Roentgen Equivalent Man), without obvious consequences on the rate of regeneration and growth.