Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
system - a laptop computer and video display for monitoring experiments, and
the experiment containers, for development and study of biological samples as
photosynthetic life and for the accommodation of experiment specific hardware.
The internal volume of BioLab available for experiment hardware and specimens is
0.36 l, height is 60 mm. Liquids, nutrients, humidity, pressure, gas, and light systems
are efficiently controlled. Electrical and data systems are also simple and efficient.
The engineering aspects for the development and operation of the (small)
containers and related life support facilities can be made easily, using the experience
gained with the operational work by astronauts during experiments already flown
aboard space shuttles and nowadays in the ISS (de Morais
2004
).
The first objective of the following proposal is that I suggest the study of
effects of Mars' 0.38 g gravitational field on very resistant, primitive microbes -
extremophiles (such as
Serratia liquefaciens
(Schuerger et al.
2013
)), methanogens,
cyanobacteria, the algae
Microcalens
sp
.
,
Escillatoria
sp., and other such very resis-
tant algae, lichens, and plant seeds (cacti, wheat, potatoes, and other vegetables), to
determinate if they can develop normally at that field strength, by the use of variable
centrifuges inside the EMCS hardware and inside the BioLab facility, or in any other
similar hardware, on board the ISS Biological Research Facility. As stated above in
the text, there is a strong necessity of that for the manned Mars exploration and its
possible future colonization (de Morais
2004
).
A Special Topic About Lichens
Lichens are great colonizers. Lichen is a composite organism in which a fungus
is paired with a photosynthesizing partner (either green algae or cyanobacteria).
The thallus of the lichen (which makes up the organism's body) is very different
from either the fungal or algal components living on their own. The fungi surround
and hold up the algae by sinking tendrils through the algal cell walls (in much the
same manner parasitic fungi attack their hosts). By sharing the resources of the two
different partners, the organism is capable of surviving extreme desiccation, and,
when the lichen is again exposed to moisture, a flood of nutrients becomes available
to both partners.
The partnership makes for an extraordinarily resilient organism which can
be found everywhere on land from the rainforests to the deserts to the highest
mountains to the harsh frozen rocks of Antarctica. The European Space Agency
(ESA) explored the durability of lichen by putting living specimens in direct contact
with outer space where the organisms were exposed to vacuum, wide fluctuations
of temperature, and the complete spectrum of solar UV light and bombarded with
cosmic radiation. During the Foton-M2 mission, which was launched into low-
Earth orbit on May 31, 2005, the lichens
Rhizocarpon geographicum
and
Xanthoria
elegans
were exposed for a total of 14.6 days before being returned to Earth.
Analysis postflight showed a full rate of survival and an unchanged ability for
photosynthesis.
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