Limits of Life and the Habitability of Mars: The ESA Space Experiment BIOMEX on the ISS
Jean-Pierre de Vera
(1)
,
Mashal Alawi
,
Theresa Backhaus
,
Mickael Baque
(2)
,
Daniela Billi
(3)
,
Ute Böttger
,
Thomas Berger
,
Maria Bohmeier
(4)
,
Charles Cockell
(5)
,
René Demets
(6)
,
Rosa de La Torre Noetzel
(7)
,
Howell Edwards
,
Andreas Elsaesser
(8)
,
Claudia Fagliarone
,
Annelie Fiedler
,
Bernard Foing
(6)
,
Frédéric Foucher
(9)
,
Jörg Fritz
(10)
,
Franziska Hanke
,
Thomas Herzog
,
Gerda Horneck
(11)
,
Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers
(1)
,
Björn Huwe
(12)
,
Jasmin Joshi
(12)
,
Natalia Kozyrovska
(13)
,
Martha Kruchten
,
Peter Lasch
,
Natuschka Lee
,
Stefan Leuko
,
Thomas Leya
(14)
,
Andreas Lorek
,
Jesus Martinez-Frias
(15)
,
Joachim Meessen
(16)
,
Sophie Moritz
,
Ralf Moeller
(11)
,
Karen Olsson-Francis
(17)
,
Silvano Onofri
(18)
,
Sieglinde Ott
(16)
,
Claudia Pacelli
,
Olga Podolich
,
Elke Rabbow
(11)
,
Günther Reitz
(4)
,
Petra Rettberg
(11)
,
Oleg Reva
,
Lynn Rothschild
(19)
,
Leo Garcia Sancho
,
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
,
Laura Selbmann
(18)
,
Paloma Serrano
(20)
,
Ulrich Szewzyk
(21)
,
Cyprien Verseux
,
Jennifer Wadsworth
,
Dirk Wagner
,
Frances Westall
(9)
,
David Wolter
,
Laura Zucconi
(18)
1
DLR Institut für Planetenforschung
2 IBMM - Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron [Pôle Chimie Balard]
3 Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata [Roma] = University of Rome Tor Vergata
4 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Köln]
5 SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy [Edinburgh]
6 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
7 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing and Atmosphere Department
8 Leiden Institute of Chemistry
9 CBM - Centre de biophysique moléculaire
10 Saalbau Weltraum Projekt
11 DLR Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin
12 University of Potsdam = Universität Potsdam
13 NASU - National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
14 Fraunhofer IBMT - Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering [Sulzbach]
15 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
16 Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf = Heinrich Heine University [Düsseldorf]
17 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]
18 Università degli studi della Tuscia [Viterbo]
19 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
20 JCSG - Joint Center for Structural Genomics
21 TU - Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin
2 IBMM - Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron [Pôle Chimie Balard]
3 Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata [Roma] = University of Rome Tor Vergata
4 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Köln]
5 SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy [Edinburgh]
6 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
7 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing and Atmosphere Department
8 Leiden Institute of Chemistry
9 CBM - Centre de biophysique moléculaire
10 Saalbau Weltraum Projekt
11 DLR Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin
12 University of Potsdam = Universität Potsdam
13 NASU - National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
14 Fraunhofer IBMT - Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering [Sulzbach]
15 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
16 Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf = Heinrich Heine University [Düsseldorf]
17 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]
18 Università degli studi della Tuscia [Viterbo]
19 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
20 JCSG - Joint Center for Structural Genomics
21 TU - Technical University of Berlin / Technische Universität Berlin
Jean-Pierre de Vera
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 778455
- ORCID : 0000-0002-9530-5821
Mashal Alawi
- Fonction : Auteur
Theresa Backhaus
- Fonction : Auteur
Ute Böttger
- Fonction : Auteur
Thomas Berger
- Fonction : Auteur
Howell Edwards
- Fonction : Auteur
Claudia Fagliarone
- Fonction : Auteur
Annelie Fiedler
- Fonction : Auteur
Frédéric Foucher
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 740003
- IdHAL : frederic-foucher
- ORCID : 0000-0002-6037-8633
- IdRef : 120147750
Franziska Hanke
- Fonction : Auteur
Thomas Herzog
- Fonction : Auteur
Martha Kruchten
- Fonction : Auteur
Peter Lasch
- Fonction : Auteur
Natuschka Lee
- Fonction : Auteur
Stefan Leuko
- Fonction : Auteur
Andreas Lorek
- Fonction : Auteur
Sophie Moritz
- Fonction : Auteur
Claudia Pacelli
- Fonction : Auteur
Olga Podolich
- Fonction : Auteur
Oleg Reva
- Fonction : Auteur
Leo Garcia Sancho
- Fonction : Auteur
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
- Fonction : Auteur
Laura Selbmann
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 778457
- ORCID : 0000-0002-8967-3329
Cyprien Verseux
- Fonction : Auteur
Jennifer Wadsworth
- Fonction : Auteur
Dirk Wagner
- Fonction : Auteur
Frances Westall
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 741728
- IdHAL : frances-westall
- ORCID : 0000-0002-1938-5823
- IdRef : 113956851
David Wolter
- Fonction : Auteur
Résumé
BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars EXperiment) is an ESA/Roscosmos space exposure experiment housed within the exposure facility EXPOSE-R2 outside the Zvezda module on the International Space Station (ISS). The design of the multiuser facility supports-among others-the BIOMEX investigations into the stability and level of degradation of space-exposed biosignatures such as pigments, secondary metabolites, and cell surfaces in contact with a terrestrial and Mars analog mineral environment. In parallel, analysis on the viability of the investigated organisms has provided relevant data for evaluation of the habitability of Mars, for the limits of life, and for the likelihood of an interplanetary transfer of life (theory of lithopanspermia). In this project, lichens, archaea, bacteria, cyanobacteria, snow/permafrost algae, meristematic black fungi, and bryophytes from alpine and polar habitats were embedded, grown, and cultured on a mixture of martian and lunar regolith analogs or other terrestrial minerals. The organisms and regolith analogs and terrestrial mineral mixtures were then exposed to space and to simulated Mars-like conditions by way of the EXPOSE-R2 facility. In this special issue, we present the first set of data obtained in reference to our investigation into the habitability of Mars and limits of life. This project was initiated and implemented by the BIOMEX group, an international and interdisciplinary consortium of 30 institutes in 12 countries on 3 continents. Preflight tests for sample selection, results from ground-based simulation experiments, and the space experiments themselves are presented and include a complete overview of the scientific processes required for this space experiment and postflight analysis. The presented BIOMEX concept could be scaled up to future exposure experiments on the Moon and will serve as a pretest in low Earth orbit.