European biologists have discovered that cyanobacteria from the family Anabena, which can live in the atmosphere of Mars, will also survive inside dust grains in the soil of the Red Planet.
And the press office of the Center for Applied Space Technologies and Microgravity (ZARM), indicated in its study, which was published by the Russia Today website, yesterday, that scientists have recently begun to think regarding how humanity can colonize Mars and other potentially habitable planets, and they now assume that it must They have to solve two problems: learn how to produce energy, as well as oxygen, water and food, using local resources.
One year ago, astrobiologists from Germany discovered that the photosynthetic cyanobacteria of the ‘Anabena’ family are suitable to play a biological basis in life-support systems on Mars. They also discovered that one strain of these microbes, PCC 7938, is able to grow in the Martian atmosphere, provided small amounts of liquid water are present.
The researchers said that the practical results make PCC 7938 a promising candidate that will play an essential role in the life support systems of future Mars colonies.
