NASA scientist says there could be microbial life hiding in dark craters on the moon's south pole

Jessica Orwig
·3 min read
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A visualization of a crater on the moon. Blue and green color-coding offer a topographical map of how deep the crater is.
The Shackleton crater is located at the moon's south pole, where microbes originating from Earth could exist. This visualization is color-coded and contoured to show the crater's depth.NASA/Ernie Wright

  • A NASA planetary scientist said conditions on the lunar south pole could be ripe for microbial life.

  • Researchers have found that certain microbes on Earth can withstand extreme conditions.

  • These microbes may have hitched a ride on a lunar lander and are now living on the moon.

Compared to Earth, the moon is a desolate place. Devoid of flowing water, wispy clouds, and signs of life. Except, one NASA scientist thinks there's more to the moon than meets the eye.

Prabal Saxena, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center, said microbial life could exist in harsh environments like those on the moon.

"There may be potentially habitable niches for such life in relatively protected areas on some airless bodies," said Prabal Saxena, Space.com reported.

These moon microbes, if they exist, likely originated on Earth and hitched a ride on a lunar lander.

Saxena studies where alien life might exist outside our solar system but, recently, he's been working with a team that has its sights closer to home — the lunar south pole.

The lunar south pole has craters of ice and possible microbial life

The lunar south pole has had lots of attention in recent years because it's where NASA hopes to land its Artemis III astronauts in 2025. The agency has identified 13 potential landing sites:

portion of lunar surface with 13 spots highlighted blue
A rendering of 13 regions NASA has identified as potential targets for its next human moon landing.NASA

No human has ever set foot on the lunar south pole. But we know from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper that it contains ice inside craters, which astronauts could mine for rocket fuel.

Some regions of these craters live in permanent darkness, constantly in shadow. As a result, the sun's harmful radiation never reaches these lunar pockets, and it could be a safe haven for extreme microbes.

"Importantly, recent research on the survivability of microbes exposed to conditions like those on parts of the lunar surface indicate surprising resilience of numerous microorganisms to such conditions," Saxena stated in recent work, according to Leonard David for Inside Outer Space.

ice water map moon lunar north south poles polar deposits shadowed craters pnas nasa
A map of "cold traps" inside shadowy lunar craters at the moon's south pole (left) and north pole (right). Blue dots show locations where water ice may be present at or near the surface.NASA

For example, researchers found that a bacterium called Deinococcus radiodurans survived on the outside of the International Space Station for a year. Tardigrades have also survived outside the ISS, exposed to the extreme conditions in space.

"We're currently working on understanding which specific organisms may be most suited for surviving in such regions," Saxena told Space.com.

Even if microbes don't exist on the moon right now, they almost certainly will if humans start walking around on its surface. And if Saxena and his team are right, those microbes could not only survive, but potentially grow and thrive, in these permanently-shrouded craters, per Space.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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