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Article Dans Une Revue Astrobiology Année : 2019

Limits of Life and the Habitability of Mars: The ESA Space Experiment BIOMEX on the ISS

Mashal Alawi
  • Fonction : Auteur
Theresa Backhaus
  • Fonction : Auteur
Ute Böttger
  • Fonction : Auteur
Thomas Berger
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Howell Edwards
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Claudia Fagliarone
  • Fonction : Auteur
Annelie Fiedler
  • Fonction : Auteur
Frédéric Foucher
Franziska Hanke
  • Fonction : Auteur
Thomas Herzog
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Martha Kruchten
  • Fonction : Auteur
Peter Lasch
  • Fonction : Auteur
Natuschka Lee
  • Fonction : Auteur
Stefan Leuko
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Andreas Lorek
  • Fonction : Auteur
Sophie Moritz
  • Fonction : Auteur
Claudia Pacelli
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Olga Podolich
  • Fonction : Auteur
Oleg Reva
  • Fonction : Auteur
Leo Garcia Sancho
  • Fonction : Auteur
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
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Cyprien Verseux
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Jennifer Wadsworth
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Dirk Wagner
  • Fonction : Auteur
Frances Westall
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.

Dates et versions

hal-02086947 , version 1 (01-04-2019)

Identifiants

Citer

Jean-Pierre de Vera, Mashal Alawi, Theresa Backhaus, Mickael Baque, Daniela Billi, et al.. Limits of Life and the Habitability of Mars: The ESA Space Experiment BIOMEX on the ISS. Astrobiology, 2019, 19 (2), pp.145-157. ⟨10.1089/ast.2018.1897⟩. ⟨hal-02086947⟩
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