Friday, 10 September 2010

How Microbes Could Help Colonize Mars




Cyanobacteria fossil about 850 million years old from Bitter
Springs in Central Australia. Credit: J. William Schopf
by Jeremy Hsu
for Astrobiology Magazine

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Sep 10, 2010


Tiny rock-eating microbes could mine precious extraterrestrial resources from Mars
and pave the way for the first human colonists. Just don't expect them to transform
the red planet's surface into a new Earth on a short deadline, researchers say.