An example of bacteria
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JPL/NASA
Microbes Could Live on Mars!
News story originally written on September 4, 2002
Researchers have found tiny organisms that could survive the low atmospheric pressures of Mars. They are not actually Martians but are called methanogens and live here on Earth.
Because methanogens are very small, they are called microorganisms or microbes. They are members of a group of bacteria called Archaebacteria that are closely related to the first life on Earth and live in places where there is no oxygen like swamps, sewage and even in our guts.
To see whether these organisms would be able to survive in a Martian environment, researchers put the methanogen bacteria into a chamber where the pressure could be reduced to simulate the conditions on Mars. Despite the extreme environment, the little critters survived and grew!
Life like this may exist today below the surface of Mars where an underground ocean of ice sits. Or, creatures like these might have lived on Mars in the past!
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