How to Terraform Mars: Start with Antarctic Lichen

Adaptation of an Antarctic lichen to Martian niche conditions can occur within 34 days

Authors:

1. Jean-Pierre de Vera (a)
2. Dirk Schulze-Makuch (b)
3. Afshin Khan (b)
4. Andreas Lorek (a)
5. Alexander Koncz (a)
6. Diedrich Möhlmann (a)
7. Tilman Spohn (a)

Affiliations:

a. German Aerospace Centre, Institute of Planetary Research, D-12489 Berlin, Germany

b. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, USA

Abstract:

Stresses occurring on the Martian surface were simulated in a Mars Simulation Chamber (MSC) and included high UV fluxes (Zarnecki and Catling, 2002), low temperatures, low water activity, high atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and an atmospheric pressure of about 800 Pa (Kasting, 1991 and Head et al., 2003). The lichen Pleopsidium chlorophanum is an extremophile that lives in very cold, dry, high-altitude habitats, which are Earth‘s best approximation of the Martian surface. Samples with P. chlorophanum were exposed uninterruptedly to simulated conditions of the unprotected Martian surface (i.e. 6344 kJm−2) and protected niche conditions (269 kJm−2) for 34 days. Under unprotected Martian surface conditions the fungal symbiont decreases its metabolic activity and it was unclear if the algal symbiont of the lichen was still actively photosynthesizing. However, under “protected site“ conditions, the entire lichen not only survived and remained photosynthetically active, it even adapted physiologically by increasing its photosynthetic activity over the 34 days.

So do you think NASA is wasting money being overly paranoid?

Or perhaps we ought to just get on with it and terraform Mars how we can?