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Eco-physiological processes are expressing the interaction of organisms within an environmental context of their habitat and their degree of adaptation, level of resistance as well as the limits of life in a changing environment. The present study focuses on observations achieved by methods used in this scientific discipline of “Ecophysiology” and to enlarge the scientific context in a broader range of understanding with universal character. The present eco-physiological work is building the basis for classifying and exploring the degree of habitability of another planet like Mars by a bio-driven experimentally approach. It offers also new ways of identifying key-molecules which are playing a specific role in physiological processes of tested organisms to serve as well as potential biosignatures in future space exploration missions with the goal to search for life. This has important implications for the new emerging scientific field of Astrobiology. Astrobiology addresses the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe. The three fundamental questions which are hidden behind this definition are: how does life begin and evolve? Is there life beyond Earth and, if so, how can we detect it? What is the future of life on Earth and in the universe? It means that this multidisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System. It comprises the search for the evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar System like the icy moons of the Jovian and Saturnian system, laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth, and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space. For this purpose an integrated research strategy was applied, which connects field research, laboratory research allowing planetary simulation experiments with investigation enterprises performed in space (particularly performed in the low Earth Orbit.
BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars EXperiment) is an ESA/Roscosmos space exposure experiment housed within the exposure facility EXPOSE-R2 outside the Zvezda module on the International Space Station (ISS). The design of the multiuser facility supports-among others-the BIOMEX investigations into the stability and level of degradation of space-exposed biosignatures such as pigments, secondary metabolites, and cell surfaces in contact with a terrestrial and Mars analog mineral environment. In parallel, analysis on the viability of the investigated organisms has provided relevant data for evaluation of the habitability of Mars, for the limits of life, and for the likelihood of an interplanetary transfer of life (theory of lithopanspermia). In this project, lichens, archaea, bacteria, cyanobacteria, snow/permafrost algae, meristematic black fungi, and bryophytes from alpine and polar habitats were embedded, grown, and cultured on a mixture of martian and lunar regolith analogs or other terrestrial minerals. The organisms and regolith analogs and terrestrial mineral mixtures were then exposed to space and to simulated Mars-like conditions by way of the EXPOSE-R2 facility. In this special issue, we present the first set of data obtained in reference to our investigation into the habitability of Mars and limits of life. This project was initiated and implemented by the BIOMEX group, an international and interdisciplinary consortium of 30 institutes in 12 countries on 3 continents. Preflight tests for sample selection, results from ground-based simulation experiments, and the space experiments themselves are presented and include a complete overview of the scientific processes required for this space experiment and postflight analysis. The presented BIOMEX concept could be scaled up to future exposure experiments on the Moon and will serve as a pretest in low Earth orbit.