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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

An experiment aboard the International Space Station has shown that an Antarctic fungus can survive cold and dry conditions similar to those found on Mars [inverse.com]:

An experiment 18 months in the making has proved successful: European scientists announced today that a fungi that grows under rocks in Antarctica can survive aboard the International Space Station, under conditions similar to Mars. The species of fungi, Cryomyces antarcticus and Cryomyces minteri, are endemic to the McMurdo Dry Valleys [wikipedia.org] located in the Antarctica Victoria Land — a region that resembles the extremely dry, cold climate of the Martian surface. Both species are cyptoendothlitic, meaning they are able to colonize empty spaces and pores inside rock structures. They survive the hostile environment by literally slipping through the cracks.

Scientists with the Lichens and Fungi Experiment (LIFE), associated with the European Space Agency, collected samples of the fungi and placed them in specially-designed ISS platform called EXPOSE-E — basically a miniature habitat able to withstand extreme environments. The fungi were exposed to Mars-like conditions: atmosphere with 95 percent carbon dioxide, 1.6 percent argon, 0.15 percent oxygen, 2.7 percent nitrogen, 370 parts per million of water, 1,000 pascals of pressure, and high levels of ultraviolet radiation. More than 60 percent of the fungal cells for both species survived after 18 months.

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