Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet

“Life-supporting conditions” are what astronomers – planetary scientists look for when studying another celestial body.

But they can go the wrong way. It is our own earth that is slowly proving that there are creatures that still exist without most of those conditions of survival. According to scientists, these creatures will be important clues for us to “portrait” alien creatures and find the right direction.

Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet
Danakil depression in Ethiopia – (photo: Explosive Aperture).

At the Dallol volcano – the name of a hydrothermal field in Ethiopia, Spanish geochemists – astrobiologists have found a “crazy” bacteria living in an extremely salty and rich supersaturated brine environment. acidic, always at a temperature near boiling (89 degrees C). This environment is quite similar to early Mars, especially in the Gusev crater area, where NASA used to let the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover rover land and perform missions from 2004-2010. The study was just published in September 2019.

Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet
Cyanobacteria exist in matter under the dark biosphere – (Photo provided by the research team).

The Japanese research vessel Chikyu has drilled 2.5km below the seabed and helped a multinational research team identify a 2.3 billion cubic meter “shadow biosphere” where cyanobacteria have living healthy from the time the earth was primitive until now, without light and nutrition, only absorbing energy from the rock to live.

Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet
Dagger Ice Tower – (Photo provided by the research team).

Research just published in June 2018 revealed that at the height of nearly 4,000m, it is cold, super strong winds and terrible UV radiation in the Andes mountains, there are ice towers bearing daggers. And on top of those dagger ice towers is a surprising microbial community that includes Chlamydomonas algae, Chloromonas algae and many bacteria. This is one of the most extreme places in the world and according to a team of scientists from the University of California at Boulder (USA), is like… Pluto.

Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet
The way to the world is buried – (photo provided by the research team).

The last ice age created in the Arctic underground chambers filled with ancient seawater, like a crypt sealed for 50,000 years, without light, air, receiving nothing from the outside world. However, in the ancient, extreme and deadly sea water in these catacombs, scientists from the University of Washington (USA) have found a swarm of microorganisms. According to them, if they can live here, living on Mars is just a small thing!

Portrait of 5 terrestrial creatures living well on… another planet
Tardigrade – (photo: NASA)

A strange creature named Tardigrade has just had the opportunity to migrate from Earth to the moon thanks to an Israeli spaceship hitchhiking. Although the mission to study the moon failed, the ship broke down, but it seems they have done the unthinkable to sow the seeds of life on the moon.

Tardigrade is said to live well at temperatures – 272 degrees Celsius to 150 degrees Celsius, can live until the end of the solar system, withstand zero pressure and superpower. They often “fake death” when lacking water, but with just a few drops of water, this micro-monster will respawn. With data on Tardigrade, it is believed that they are living happily on the moon.