This plant can survive for months in space or Mars: ‘We’re genuinely astonished’

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Scientists finally weighed in on what it would mean to develop life outside of Earth and what it would take to grow plants on the soil of other planets.

The scientist who spoke about this shocking piece of news is lead author Tomomichi Fujita, who works at Tokaido University.

It should be noted that the plant that made it into space in nine months is a moss spore. They survived extreme temperatures, being outside the International Space Station (ISS), and even UV radiation, according to a report published Nov. 20 in the journal Ice Science.

What is worth mentioning is that moss is known for its ability to survive in areas that are considered ‘challenging’ for other types of plants and wildlife. Whether it’s in the Himalayan peaks, the Death Valley desert, or the Antarctic tundra. Perhaps even the cooling surfaces of active volcanoes.

With such results, the lead author admitted, “most organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space.”

“However, the moss spores retained their viability after nine months of direct exposure. This provides compelling evidence that life that has evolved on Earth has, at the cellular level, internal mechanisms to withstand the conditions of space.”

He even highlighted the possibility of discovering “space mass” as a result because he was also ‘influenced’ by the ability of plants to adapt to Earth.

“I wondered: Can this small and remarkably robust plant survive in space?” He recalled the thought. That is why for his experiment he compared three forms of mass. Proteinimata (juvenile moss), brood cells (stress-induced stem cells), and sporophytes (encapsulated spores), which aim to determine what is most likely to survive in space.

“We expected that the combined stresses of space, including the vacuum, cosmic radiation, extreme temperature fluctuations, and microgravity, would do more damage than any stress alone.”

Their findings led them to realize that UV radiation posed the greatest risk, but also that sporophytes clearly outperformed other species.

Juvenile mosses, on the other hand, failed to survive any long-term UV exposure, or extreme temperatures, anywhere in between.

Survival rate of nc-seeded ovaries:

were capable of −196 °C for more than one week or 55 °C for more than one week for a full month.

Real world test:

It began in March 2022 when hundreds of sporophytes traveled to the ISS aboard the Cygnus NG-17 spacecraft. After they arrived, the astronauts placed the samples near the outer walls of the station and left them alone for 283 days. They were brought back to SpaceX CRS-16 in January of 2023, then taken back to the lab for analysis.

“We expected almost zero survival, but the result was the opposite: most of the spores survived. We were genuinely surprised by the extraordinary stability of these tiny plant cells,” Mr. Tomomichi himself said of his findings.

In percentage terms, about 80% of the spores survived the full journey, but only 1% of those that survived made it past the germination stage in the lab.

When examined, chlorophyll showed completely normal levels in those who successfully survived, with only a 20% reduction in chlorophyll, a light-sensitive compound.

Thus, in the author’s view, “this study demonstrates the amazing resilience of life that has arisen on Earth.”

In a mathematical model they set out to map how long the population would survive if they increased their time in space, the numbers show an impressive survival time of 5,600 days, or about 15 years, but they stress that more data are needed for any firm conclusions.

“Ultimately, we hope this work will open a new frontier toward building ecosystems in extraterrestrial environments like the Moon and Mars. I hope our Maas research will serve as a starting point,” he said before signing off.

According to Science Daily, the work was done in collaboration between the DX Scholarship Hokkaido University, JSPS Kokanee, and the Astrobiology Center of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences.