Overview
- Researchers at Johns Hopkins used a gas-gun plate-impact setup to deliver transient 1–3 gigapascal shocks that replicate asteroid-ejection pressures from Mars.
- Deinococcus radiodurans survived nearly all trials at about 1.4 GPa and roughly 60% at 2.4 GPa, with viability observed up to around 3 GPa.
- Gene-expression analyses and electron microscopy indicated biological stress at higher pressures along with activation of repair pathways in surviving cells.
- The findings suggest Mars ejecta could deliver microbes to nearby moons under lower pressures, raising the need to reassess planetary-protection measures for destinations such as Phobos.
- Published March 3 in PNAS Nexus, the study demonstrates feasibility rather than proof of interplanetary transfer, and the team plans tests on other organisms and repeated-impact scenarios.