Phobos– the largest and innermost moon of Mars. Note the large crater shown in the lower right, known as ‘Sickney’.

The proposed experiment is called LIFE -Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment–and will be placed aboard Phobos-Grunt, a joint Russian-American mission to Phobos, the largest (and innermost) of Mars’s two moons (the smaller being Deimos). If all goes according to plan, it will be the first time living creatures from Earth will be sent intentionally beyond our Earth - Moon system.

The samples to be sent include four species of bacteria: Deinococcus radiodurans (a radiation resistant bacterium), along with three species of Archea (ancient, bacterial, life forms also known as “extremophiles” due to their ability to thrive in ultra-harsh conditions), several tardigrades (”water bears” - tiny, eight-limbed invertebrates known for their ability to repair their DNA), numerous yeast spores, seeds from the mouse-eared, cress plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and a soil sample from Israel’s Negev desert.

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Climate change effects such as this one aren’t unique to the coastal area of Peru– in fact they are now becoming the norm across the country’s ecologically diverse regions.

To better understand why Peru’s coast has become colder, an international team of researchers commenced work this week on a research project in the Pacific Ocean off of Peru’s coast.  They are using a variety of equipment, such as a satellite-controlled submarine, to collect data from the atmosphere and ocean. During the research, they also hope to learn more about the infamous and periodic El Nino and La Nina climate occurrences.

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