Microbes | Image used for representational purpose (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Washington, February 22: As NASA s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars last week, a new study by scientists at the US space agency and German Aerospace Centre has found that some microbes on Earth could temporarily survive on the surface of the Red Planet.
The researchers tested the endurance of micro-organisms to Martian conditions by launching them into the Earth s stratosphere, as it closely represents key conditions on Mars.
Published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, this work paves the way for understanding not only the threat of microbes to space missions, but also the opportunities for resource independence from Earth.