China says desert moss suited to Mars as it tests hi-tech tools for space and astronauts

China has hopes for a desert moss that it says could colonise Mars following a revival experiment inside a mini space laboratory that showed it was remarkably resilient, state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday.

The plant, a highly drought-resistant species called Syntrichia caninervis, was revived after it was subjected to a series of extreme space conditions – including microgravity, intense radiation and severe dehydration – according to the report.

Chinese scientists had previously established in simulated Martian environments that the moss was a promising pioneer species for colonising extraterrestrial worlds.

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China launches Shenzhou-21 spacecraft with 4 mice aboard for 6-month experiment

The findings are expected to “provide theoretical backing” for its use in low-energy ecological improvement and the in-situ use of local resources for future off-Earth settlements.

The experiment was among the latest in-orbit test results from the prototype Qingzhou cargo spacecraft that were released on Monday following an earlier batch of scientific and engineering trial outcomes announced in April.

According to CCTV, the results are expected to help China deploy its new space technologies, operate and maintain the space station safely and efficiently, and make the best use of future space resources.

Developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS), the Qingzhou experimental cargo spacecraft – along with two small satellites – was launched on March 30 aboard a Kinetica-2 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan launch centre in northwestern China.