What can moss being exposed to the vacuum of space teach scientists about the survivability of plants in harsh environments? This is what a recent study published in in iScience hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the probability of moss spores surviving in the vacuum of space. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand how plants survive in harsh environments, enabling greater insight into finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers launched hundreds of sporophytes, which is a type of encapsulated moss spore, to the International Space Station (ISS) to test their resilience in being directly exposed to the vacuum of space for 283 days, including its harsh ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. This study comes after the researchers exposed different species of moss to space-like environments, including extreme temperature changes, microgravity, and UV radiation. While sporophytes survived those tests, the team did not expect them to survive the real thing and were surprised by the findings that 80 percent of the moss spores not only survived but the vast majority maintained their ability to reproduce once they came back to Earth.
Image of a sporophyte (top center), which is an example of the moss launched to the ISS. (Credit: Tomomichi Fujita)
“Most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space,” said Dr. Tomomichi Fujita, who is a professor at Hokkaido University and a co-author on the study. "However, the moss spores retained their vitality after nine months of direct exposure. This provides striking evidence that the life that has evolved on Earth possesses, at the cellular level, intrinsic mechanisms to endure the conditions of space.”
This study comes as scientists continue to learn more about the evolution of life on Earth while simultaneously searching for life beyond Earth. Therefore, studies like this can help scientists gain ground on two fronts regarding the evolution of life throughout the universe.
What new insight into plants in space will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: iScience, EurekAlert!