Aspicilia fruticulosa: One of the Most Resistant Organisms to Outer Space Conditions and Mars Simulated Environment

Abstract

Lichens have been proposed as one of the groups of organisms able to cope with outer space conditions. This is based on the fact that they are extremophiles. Vagrant lichens or erratic lichens live unattached to the substrate and are well known from the continental deserts and arid areas of Middle Asia, Eurasia, North America and Northern Africa. For this work we have selected Aspicilia fruticulosa, a vagrant lichen that typically develops a globular fruticose and compact thallus up to 2.5 cm diameter. We have selected this lichen species to test the survival capacity to harsh space conditions in the Lithopanspermia experiment, which was integrated on board of Biopan (Foton M3 satellite, September 2007), a facility developed by ESA to expose exo-astrobiology experiments to space environment in a low Earth orbit (LEO).