Mimicking the Martian Hydrological Cycle: A Set-Up to Introduce Liquid Water in Vacuum

Sobrado, Jesús Manuel

doi:10.3390/s20216150

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…The design and development of Mars simulation facilities is still active in experimental research [40,41]. For this purpose we have developed "the SpaceQ" experimental facility [42,43], see Figure 2, to simulate the space and Mars environment for different research and technological applications.…”

Section: Spaceq Chambermentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of the Atmosphere-Regolith Water Cycle on Present-Day Mars

Ramachandran

Zorzano

Martín-Torres

2021

Sensors

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The water content of the upper layers of the surface of Mars is not yet quantified. Laboratory simulations are the only feasible way to investigate this in a controlled way on Earth, and then compare it with remote and in situ observations of spacecrafts on Mars. Describing the processes that may induce changes in the water content of the surface is critical to determine the present-day habitability of the Martian surface, to understand the atmospheric water cycle, and to estimate the efficiency of future water extraction procedures from the regolith for In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). This paper illustrates the application of the SpaceQ facility to simulate the near-surface water cycle under Martian conditions. Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) observations at Gale crater show a non-equilibrium situation in the atmospheric H2O volume mixing ratio (VMR) at night-time, and there is a decrease in the atmospheric water content by up to 15 g/m2 within a few hours. This reduction suggests that the ground may act at night as a cold sink scavenging atmospheric water. Here, we use an experimental approach to investigate the thermodynamic and kinetics of water exchange between the atmosphere, a non-porous surface (LN2-chilled metal), various salts, Martian regolith simulant, and mixtures of salts and simulant within an environment which is close to saturation. We have conducted three experiments: the stability of pure liquid water around the vicinity of the triple point is studied in experiment 1, as well as observing the interchange of water between the atmosphere and the salts when the surface is saturated; in experiment 2, the salts were mixed with Mojave Martian Simulant (MMS) to observe changes in the texture of the regolith caused by the interaction with hydrates and liquid brines, and to quantify the potential of the Martian regolith to absorb and retain water; and experiment 3 investigates the evaporation of pure liquid water away from the triple point temperature when both the air and ground are at the same temperature and the relative humidity is near saturation. We show experimentally that frost can form spontaneously on a surface when saturation is reached and that, when the temperature is above 273.15 K (0 °C), this frost can transform into liquid water, which can persist for up to 3.5 to 4.5 h at Martian surface conditions. For comparison, we study the behavior of certain deliquescent salts that exist on the Martian surface, which can increase their mass between 32% and 85% by absorption of atmospheric water within a few hours. A mixture of these salts in a 10% concentration with simulant produces an aggregated granular structure with a water gain of approximately 18- to 50-wt%. Up to 53% of the atmospheric water was captured by the simulated ground, as pure liquid water, hydrate, or brine.

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Section: Spaceq Chambermentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of the Atmosphere-Regolith Water Cycle on Present-Day Mars

Ramachandran

Zorzano

Martín-Torres

2021

Sensors

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“…MARTE had a gas composition of 100% CO 2 (95% in Mars), its pressure (0.1-2 kPa) was slightly higher than in Mars (0.1-1.2 kPa), and both its temperature range (253-283 K) and humidity (10%-35%) were inside the range in Mars (170-283 K, <35%). Radiation in MARTE was slightly higher (666 W/m 2 ; equivalent to PPFD; photosynthetic photon flow density; of 290.41 μmol m −2 s −1 ) than in Mars (550 W/m 2 ; Table 1; Sobrado, 2020).…”

Section: Simulation Chamber and Performancementioning

confidence: 92%

“…The mat should be capable of surviving in this situation. In order to solve this inquiry, we configured environmental factors (Table 2) in the simulation chamber MARTE (Sobrado, 2020), so that they were as close as possible to real conditions on Mars (Table 1). In addition, instead of supporting either survival or growth based on counting cells/spores or methane production in the case of archaea (Schwendner and Schuerger, 2020), in this study, we have used the production of mRNA for the 16S rRNA gene as an indicator of biological/metabolic activity and have sequenced the mRNA to reveal their identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survival of an Antarctic cyanobacterial mat under Martian conditions

Martin-Andres,

Sobrado,

Cavalcante

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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Antarctica is one of the most outstanding analogs of Mars, and cyanobacterial mats are considered one of the most resilient biological consortia. The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of the Martian conditions on an Antarctic cyanobacterial mat. We exposed an Antarctic microbial mat to Martian conditions in a simulating chamber (MARTE) for 15 d and investigated the variations in the consortium by the use of 16S rRNA gene expression as an indicator of the biological activity. Metabarcoding using the V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene was used to determine the succession of the active members of the microbial consortium during the experiment. The results showed that the microbial mat, far from collapsing, can survive the stringent conditions in the simulating chamber. Different behaviors were displayed depending on the metabolic capabilities and physiological characteristics of every taxon. The main conclusion is that the Martian conditions did not impair growth in some of the groups, and thus, the investigated Antarctic community would be able to survive in a Martian environment at least during the short experimental period, although elements of the community were affected in different ways.

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“…Deuterium lamp (Hamamatsu model 140 W L10366 lamp (115–400) nm maximum 160 nm (95% emission) UVA + UVB + VIS (305–450 nm): 5.11 W/m 2 ). Time: Radiation 14 h, without radiation 8 h (nighttime), radiation 2 h ( Sobrado et al, 2014 ; Sobrado, 2020 ). The light source is placed on top of the MARTE chamber.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial molecular machinery in the Martian cryosphere conditions

Muñoz-Hisado,

Ruiz-Blas,

Sobrado

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

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The exploration of Mars is one of the main objectives of space missions since the red planet is considered to be, or was in the past, potentially habitable. Although the surface of Mars is now dry and arid, abundant research suggests that water covered Mars billions of years ago. Recently, the existence of liquid water in subglacial lakes has been postulated below the South pole of Mars. Until now, experiments have been carried out on the survival of microorganisms in Martian surface conditions, but it remains unknown how their adaptation mechanisms would be in the Martian cryosphere. In this work, two bacterial species (Bacillus subtilis and Curtobacterium flacumfaciens) were subjected to a simulated Martian environment during 24 h using a planetary chamber. Afterward, the molecular machinery of both species was studied to investigate how they had been modified. Proteomes, the entire set of proteins expressed by each bacterium under Earth (named standard) conditions and Martian conditions, were compared using proteomic techniques. To establish this evaluation, both the expression levels of each protein, and the variation in their distribution within the different functional categories were considered. The results showed that these bacterial species followed a different strategy. The Bacillus subtilis resistance approach consisted of improving its stress response, membrane bioenergetics, degradation of biomolecules; and to a lesser extent, increasing its mobility and the formation of biofilms or resistance endospores. On the contrary, enduring strategy of Curtobacterium flacumfaciens comprised of strengthening the cell envelope, trying to protect cells from the extracellular environment. These results are especially important due to their implications for planetary protection, missions to Mars and sample return since contamination by microorganisms would invalidate the results of these investigations.

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Mimicking the Martian Hydrological Cycle: A Set-Up to Introduce Liquid Water in Vacuum

Cited by 7 publications

References 62 publications

Experimental Investigation of the Atmosphere-Regolith Water Cycle on Present-Day Mars

Experimental Investigation of the Atmosphere-Regolith Water Cycle on Present-Day Mars

Survival of an Antarctic cyanobacterial mat under Martian conditions

Bacterial molecular machinery in the Martian cryosphere conditions

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