RESEARCHERS launched fungi into the sky above Inglewood on Friday in their quest for knowledge on survival of life in space.
Professor James Maxwell and students from La Trobe University released two balloons from Peter Farmer’s property of the outskirts of town.
The university’s High-Altitude Advanced-Materials and Engineering Research (HAAMER) project, a collaboration with RMIT, sent fungi and bacteria more than 40km above the ground in the latest nearspace experiment.
“Can life on Earth survive if, say, it got to Mars? Can they take the hardship and withstand extreme heat and extreme cold rising through the sky. The chances are low but ...” said Professor Maxwell.
He said the balloons “acted like a satellite hovering over an area rather than being in orbit”.
“Hi-res images tell us a lot about what is happening on the ground too and this information can be used for drought and fire intelligence and other applications.”
Professor Maxwell first launched a research balloon from Nhill in 2021 and plans more from Inglewood this year mapping surface minerals and measuring change on the landscape.
He said Archaea - the heartiest organisms known to science - were blasted to extreme heights to see if organisms from other planets can survive entry into Earth. Friday’s helium-filled balloon rose 7.4 metres a second before drifting at an estimated 40km altitude and landing in Shepparton.
Professor Maxwell said Inglewood was a good location for launches. “And today is one of the best day ... nice and still,” he said.
Professor Maxwell said his researched started after NASA found rocks from Mars on Earth thought to contain fossil life.