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ESA-space experiments: from BIOPAN 6 experiment "Lithopanspermia" to EXPOSE
Abstract
The experiment Lithopanspermia and the experiment Life: The concept of both of the space experiments is to expose different eukaryotic species as there are the lichens Xanthoria elegans, Rhizocarpon geographicum and their mycobiont cultures, the black Antarctic microfungi Cryomyces minteri and Cryomyces antarcticus and Antarctic rocks colonized by cryptoendolithic communities. The aim behind this space research is to analyze the likelihood of Panspermia, which means the interplanetary transfer of life. Whereas the BIOPAN 6 experiment is a short time space experiment with 10 days space exposure, the experiment on the EXPOSE platform on the ISS is a long term experiment of about 1 years of space exposure what is a good tool to realize the second scenario of Panspermia, which means the travel of microorganisms through space. Experiment verification tests: investigations on the mentioned eukaryotic model organisms were still done during experiment verification tests (EVTs) and indicated a relevant high survival capacity. Nearly 70 to 90% of the lichens and up to 70% black microfungi have survived the tests before space exposure experiments. This has been checked by culturing methods, by the use of LIVE/DEAD staining investigations and in case of lichens additionally by photosynthesis activity tests. Space exposure: samples of the same model organisms were used for the space exposure experiments partly on BIOPAN 6 (FOTON M3) and completely on the ISS. The exposure time was between 10 days and 1 years and the results are indicating still maintenance of viability and even a preserved physiologic activity.
... In addition, various experiments have been performed to investigate the survivability of terrestrial living beings when exposed to space conditions. Examples of those experiments are STARLIFE , BIOMEX (Meeßen et al. 2013), BIOPAN (de la Torre Noetzel et al. 2007;de Vera and Onofri 2010), BIORISK (Baranov et al. 2009), EXPOSE (Rabbow et al. , 2015, TANPOPO (Yamagishi et al. 2008;Kawaguchi et al. 2013), LICHEN , and the Lithopanspermia experiment (Raggio et al. 2011). We participated in a survey of terrestrial life strength in a cosmic environment that was part of the experiments considering "the possibility of interplanetary transfer of life" within the TANPOPO Mission, targeting mostly microorganisms and amino acids. ...
Testing the limits of survivability in space is the primary focus in astrobiological research. Although a number of previous studies have examined terrestrial life survival in an extraterrestrial environment, only a few have investigated how life systems respond to high doses of alpha cosmic ray, the main component of cosmic rays. We used respiration and photosynthetic rates as indicators of the vital signs of the lichen Caloplaca flavovirescens, which is a symbiotic life form including fungi and algae. Our experiment demonstrated that the photosynthetic rate decreased with increased helium-beam doses, whereas the respiration rate was relatively unaffected. Specifically, under a helium-beam dose greater than 10 Gy, the respiration rate remained nearly constant regardless of further increases in the radiation rate. Our results indicate that the different metabolic systems of terrestrial life forms might exhibit different survival characteristics when they are in space.
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