The terraforming and eventual colonization of Mars has been an increasingly realizable dream for years now.

Here's a report from all the way back in 2022 showing how a toaster-sized device can convert as much carbon dioxide as a tree:

Part of the big challenge of colonizing Mars, of course, is that its habitat is simply inhospitable to human life (and pretty much all life so far as we know).

But with terraforming, we may be able to gradually transform the landscape into something in which many organisms can grow, thrive — and produce oxygen, which would be good news for us humans!

So this latest news is especially encouraging:

As humans wait to find out who will be the first person to land on Mars, a new study may have identified the first plant that will help colonize Mars. It's not some hybrid flower or genetically engineered organism — it's moss! Specifically, researchers say a desert-dwelling moss called Syntrichia caninervis can survive extreme conditions that would kill most other plants.

Who would've thought? Moss!

According to a study published in the journal The Innovation, S. caninervis has "remarkable desiccation tolerance;" it can survive after losing 98% of its water, springing back "within seconds" of rehydration.

Meanwhile,

Intact plants can tolerate ultra-low temperatures and regenerate even after being stored in a freezer at −80°C for 5 years or in liquid nitrogen for 1 month.

That's right: Freeze that sucker for half a decade, pop it in the microwave, and it's still fresh!

That sort of resilience is going to be necessary if we want to transform the Martian surface into a green paradise. And really, this thing can absolutely take a licking and keep on ticking:

Finally, the team placed S. caninervis in a special chamber simulating multiple aspects of the Martian environment simultaneously - including low atmospheric pressure, extreme temperature swings, and intense UV radiation. The hardy moss survived up to a week in these Mars-like conditions.

The moss wouldn't be able to survive outside a sealed greenhouse dwelling under current conditions, but slowly, as the atmosphere is changed, it might be the first living thing that could survive on the surface (for the ultra nerds, yes, there are other major problems with terraforming Mars, like a lack of a magnetosphere).

Still, somebody tell Elon to load up some seed planters of this stuff!

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