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

• Published in: Astrobiology
• Main Authors: de Vera, Jean-Pierre, Alawi, Mashal, Backhaus, Theresa, Baque, Mickael, Billi, Daniela, Böttger, Ute, Berger, Thomas, Bohmeier, Maria, Cockell, Charles, Demets, René, de La Torre Noetzel, Rosa, Edwards, Howell, Elsaesser, Andreas, Fagliarone, Claudia, Fiedler, Annelie, Foing, Bernard, Foucher, Frédéric, Fritz, Jörg, Hanke, Franziska, Herzog, Thomas, Horneck, Gerda, Hübers, Heinz-Wilhelm, Huwe, Björn, Joshi, Jasmin, Kozyrovska, Natalia, Kruchten, Martha, Lasch, Peter, Lee, Natuschka, Leuko, Stefan, Leya, Thomas, Lorek, Andreas, Martinez-Frias, Jesus, Meessen, Joachim, Moritz, Sophie, Moeller, Ralf, Olsson-Francis, Karen, Onofri, Silvano, Ott, Sieglinde, Pacelli, Claudia, Podolich, Olga, Rabbow, Elke, Reitz, Günther, Rettberg, Petra, Reva, Oleg, Rothschild, Lynn, Sancho, Leo Garcia, Schulze-Makuch, Dirk, Selbmann, Laura, Serrano, Paloma, Szewzyk, Ulrich
• Other Authors: DLR Institut für Planetenforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt Berlin (DLR), Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron Pôle Chimie Balard (IBMM), Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata Roma, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt Köln (DLR), SUPA School of Physics and Astronomy Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), Earth Observation, Remote Sensing and Atmosphere Department, INTA, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Universiteit Leiden Leiden, Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM), Université d'Orléans (UO)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Saalbau Weltraum Projekt, DLR Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin, University of Potsdam = Universität Potsdam, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU), Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering Sulzbach (Fraunhofer IBMT), Fraunhofer (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft), Centro de Astrobiologia Madrid (CAB), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid (CSIC), Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf = Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, The Open University Milton Keynes (OU), Università degli studi della Tuscia Viterbo, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG), Stanford University, Technische Universität Berlin (TU)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: BIOMEX; EXPOSE-R2; Extremophiles; Habitability; Limits of life; Mars; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Zvezda; permafrost
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02086947; https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2018.1897

International audience 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.