Students aim to put cyanobacteria on Mars to generate oxygen
Mars is a very harsh and hostile environment for future human explorers and like any other known planet it has no breathable air. That could change someday, and it may be soon enough for our generation to witness it, as the student team from Germany has a bold vision to make a first step to terraform the Red Planet, turning it more Earth-like. The plan is to send cyanobacteria to Mars to generate oxygen out of carbon dioxide which is the main component of Martian atmosphere (nearly 96%). "Cyanobacteria do live in conditions on Earth where no life would be expected. You find them everywhere on our planet!" team leader Robert P. Schröder told astrowatch.net. "It is the first step on Mars to test microorganisms." The project is participating in the Mars One University Competition and if it wins, it will be send as a payload to Mars, onboard the...