The "microbe", is a blue-green alga, Chroococcidiopsis.
It does not produce oxygen from Martian soil, but from water, if you give water and solar light to it.
The newsworthy part is that this cyanobacterium can survive in the presence of the toxic Martian soil and it can also survive the freezing caused by the Martian temperatures.
Therefore it could be used in some kind of greenhouses built on Mars, but a water source for supplying the greenhouse must be found.
In general, on Mars producing enough water to cover all needs will be the greatest technical challenge. All other substances are abundant enough in comparison with the required quantities, except possibly the noble gases, like argon and helium (but in the non-oxidizing Martian atmosphere there will be much less need of inert gases for techniques like welding).
A microbe (or microorganism) is generally defined as an organism that is microscopic—too small to be seen clearly by the naked eye. Blue-green algae fit this definition as they are single-celled or form microscopic colonies.
The scientific name for blue-green algae is cyanobacteria, which are technically a type of bacteria, universally classified as microbes. [2] They are prokaryotes (lacking a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles), and the two prokaryotic domains of life (Bacteria and Archaea) are composed entirely of microbes.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9025173/
[2] https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/contaminants/bl...
This is extremely misleading, because on Mars Martian soil is abundant, while water is very scarce, so the title makes the reader believe that this cyanobacterium solves easily the production of oxygen.
It does not help at all for oxygen production. If you have water, then it is easy to produce hydrogen by electrolysis, using solar energy. Getting water on Mars is the hard problem.
There are chances that such cyanobacteria will be used on Mars, but for producing protein and other useful organic substances, with oxygen only as a byproduct.
However I believe that at least for the more distant future there is a better alternative to the use of cyanobacteria: the capture of solar energy by artificial means, coupled with the synthesis of some simple organic substance, e.g. glycerol or glycine, which can then be used to feed a culture of fungi located underground, which can then produce proteins and all the other complex substances needed for human food. There already are genetically modified fungi that can produce whey protein or chicken egg white protein suitable for human consumption.
This variant is better because photovoltaic cells have better efficiency for capturing solar energy and without environmental constraints, while genetically modified fungi can produce proteins of better quality than cyanobacteria and also any other complex organic substances that will be needed.
Perhaps it's not glossly incorrect, but I classyfy it as "super ultra mega misleading".
I'd like a title like "*Cyanobacteria survives in water contamined with martian soil"
Article title at the moment is: Microbe That Could Turn Martian Dust into Oxygen
Neither of those are particularly misleading, but requires you to read it carefully I suppose, otherwise it can misleading I suppose. I guess "Martian Dust" is the most misleading part of the quote, as the soil isn't actually Martian of origin, but actually "materials that are similar to Martian soil".
As I have said, the oxygen comes only from water, which is missing on Mars, unlike the abundant Martian soil or Martian dust.
So the "microbe" does not solve the problem of oxygen production, which is obtaining water. With water, making oxygen by electrolysis is trivial and a problem solved long ago.
The cyanobacterium can make various useful organic substances, like proteins and vitamins. The fact that it also makes some oxygen is a minor additional advantage.
Even if such cyanobacteria will be grown on Mars, most of the oxygen will be made by electrolysis anyway, because the efficiency from solar light to free oxygen is much better and the photovoltaic cells continue to function in a much wider range of temperatures.
The title nor the article itself doesn't claim otherwise, unless I'm missing something?
It's also not claiming that the microbe somehow solve the problem of obtaining water, or anything else.
The only thing they claim is that this specific microbe, under the right circumstances, can produce oxygen while it grows in Martian-like soil. That's what the article claims, and the titles.
"Microbe Capable of Producing Oxygen from Martian Soil"
"Microbe That Could Turn Martian Dust into Oxygen"
The words "producing X from Y" and "turn Y into X" are extremely clear and they do not admit alternative interpretations. They both claim that X=oxygen comes from Y=soil|dust, contrary to what you say, that the titles do not contain such claims.
I normally avoid to follow the fashion of accusing posters of being AI bots, but such a failure of comprehension could be explained only for an AI bot, or perhaps for someone who understands very little English, but the latter explanation does not match the correct English of the message.
Perhaps you have used an English translation service that has confused you?
If possible to even melt some of that, and let that cascade the effect ?
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_E...
If you want to explore other regions, or to set there a base, for instance for extracting some useful minerals, all the water will have to be transported from the poles, unless some quantities of ice will be discovered underground elsewhere (or of hydrated rocks, which can produce water when heated enough).
Unless enough ice or hydrated rocks are discovered underground elsewhere, the amount of ice from the poles will sustain only a small human population.
[1] References:
Davila, A. F., Willson, D., Coates, J. D., & McKay, C. P. (2013). Perchlorate on Mars: a chemical hazard and a resource for humans. International Journal of Astrobiology, 12(4), 321–325. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1473550413000189
Oze, C., Beisel, J., Dabsys, E., Dall, J., North, G., Scott, A., Lopez, A. M., Holmes, R., & Fendorf, S. (2021). Perchlorate and Agriculture on Mars. Soil Systems, 5(3), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems5030037
Perchlorate on Mars – Overview and Implications. (2019). (NASA Technical Report).
Perchlorate-Reducing Biofilms Open a New Avenue for Martian Agriculture. (n.d.). Current Trends in Biotechnology and Bioengineering Sciences, 1(1).
Potential Health Impacts, Treatments, and Countermeasures of Martian Dust on Future Human Space Exploration. (n.d.). Life.
The survivability in the soil bit is actually the more important piece.
[0] https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseve...
Would this hold for real Martian regolith?
[...] microbe produces oxygen from martian soil
I guess you read it the former way while most people read it the latter way. Neither is wrong or right. Slightly garden-pathy title.
It's not misleading, this article has nothing to do with finding life on Mars.
> If humans ever build bases on Mars, they will need systems that can provide oxygen without constant resupply from Earth
Have you READ the article ? Or just misinterpreted the title and then commented ?