Microbes from Earth could temporarily survive on Mars

WASHINGTON: 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 microorganisms to Martian conditions by launching them into the Earth’s stratosphere, as it closely represents key conditions on Mars. “We successfully tested a new way of exposing bacteria and fungi to Mars-like conditions by using a scientific balloon to fly our experimental equipment up to Earth’s stratosphere,” said Marta Filipa Cortesao, joint first author of this study from the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne, Germany. “Some microbes, in particular spores from the black mold fungus, were able to survive the trip, even when exposed to very high UV (ultraviolet) radiation.”