Colonization Experiment

Could our anaerobic bacteria from earth survive in another planet/satellite?
Why don't we put a few kinds of anaerobic bacteria in a shuttle and send them somewhere else in the solar system? Maybe they could survive somewhere else! But where? Maybe in Io?

Furthermore, what if this experiment works? I suppose they would eventually evolve and create an extraterrestrial ecosystem? :bugeye:

 

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By bacteria I am also implying archeae

could anaerobic bacteria survive on another planet? My experience says yes, that if we transported a diverse sample of species to Mars, some would probobly prevail.

Why don't we do this? We dont want to mess up the habitats! We can learn so much more from the natural environment of these planets, such as history, chemical compositions. . . and learn more about life on the whole! We all saw what happened to earth when cyanobacter started producing O2. Would we want to spoil mars with this?

The interesting thing about creating an ecosystem is the dependence on other organisms to use their wastes, and create more nutrients for other organisms. Innoculation would have to start with primary producing bacteria of sorts, and after a population is established an introduction of some sort of heterotroph would have to be introduced. While many of these bacteria are able to grow mixotrophically, It would be unlikeley that one species could grow mixotrophically in symbiosis with itself.

 

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Europa would be the best candidate followed by Mars (especially if some guy in a lab manages to make a hydrogen peroxide lifeforms)

All things considering NASA probably already tried those (where possible meaning moon mars and venus) obviously it didn't cath

 

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Well, maybe the answer is.... YES! They would produce O2, populate the planet, and then we can move in!

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Sorry, I hav eno idea what mixortioeuegly means.... :shrug:

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How do you know they tried it?

 

What if they contaminate an already 'living planet' ?

 

Surveyor 3 is a good example what ever they claim these days that was a bloody experiment to see if microbes could survive in such hard conditions.

And altough missions to mars are usually verry well cleaned (that is NASA's missions) the admited that the capsule of the landers isn't cleaned in the same degree and these land nearly as save as the lander.

Trying might also be the wrong word because it's probably verry hard to avoid

 

There probably will be some contamination from our landers. Most bacteria will not survive hard UV radiation and they will need something to live off of, preferably organic material which is absent from other planets in our solar system as far as we presently know.

The current pristine environments will probably last till five minutes after the first manned missions land.

 

Let's remember we are talking about anaerobic bacteria, such as those who survive in extremely hot environments.

 

If Earth bacteria can come into contact with the water under Mars' surface, they can possibly survive and multiply.

 

We would have to send specific strains, strains with metabolisms allowing for such harsh conditions. Perhaps Deinococcus, which can survive very large amounts of UV radiation. if they managed to make it underground, anaerobic microbes similar to those that reside in caves could be a possibility.

 

Could such form of bacteria produce oxygen?

 

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2119

Why can't we do this with Mars and then move in? Of course, one problem with that method would be the amount of time required for them to fill up the atmosphere. But maybe we could work around that!

 

And why the hell don't we use those in our shuttles?

 

It depends. Why do you want to go to Mars so bad?

The ideal thing to do, when the technology is available, would be to design our own microorganisms to have certain metabolic pathways allowing them to survive in such a harsh climate. Since the atmosphere is primarily CO2, you could get your carbon fixed from that, like plants, but you need H20, cause you get your oxygen from splitting water. So if you find a puddle, then innoculate away.

But Really, this stuff is pretty inconceivable at this point in time.

 

So we would require H2O to colonize Mars with such bacteria...?
How about the H2O below the surface? Would it work if it was frozen? LOL!!!

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In Summer, like now with Mars approaching the Sun, temperatures can reach as high as 20.C . Winter temperatures at the equator are extremely cold but that does not mean that microbes would die. Merely stop multiplying until the warmer weather came around again.

 

This is correct and I probabebly used the same argument a couple of times, but with a average temprature of -46°C, 20°C is yust a curiosity to mention yust like the coldest temprature on earth is -89,2°C (the -91°C was never confirmed)link
But we do have a enviroment that goes between -46°C to -5°C depending with large amounds of water ice/vapor avaible (their is actually a lot of water vapor).
If mars would have hydrogen peroxide life or we could ever make it and deliver it to mars then there would only be the radiation to consider because a 60% solution would have a freezing point of -56,5°C well within your average day limits for the bigger part of mars. But then again their is still that radiation.

 

So... can we do it? Can we possibly populate Mars with some sort of microorganism that would be capable of creating an atmosphere in Mars? Another thing is... let's say we do this and we have lots of microbes producing O2 in Mars. Would all the O2 escape the planet or would it stay?

 

In human terms there would be little to no losses.
In the end Mars probably doesn't have the staying power but honnestly who would care if it can't support advanced life a 100 million years afther it's terraformed.