Jackson Free Press

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A University of Southern Mississippi assistant professor is embarking on a yearlong project to grow a form of blue-green algae in incubation chambers at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.

Scott Milroy hopes to mimic conditions that exist on the surface of Mars. NASA has provided funding for the research.

Milroy said the algae — known as cyanobacteria — is thought to be the first organism to have evolved the ability to photosynthesize and there are species which are capable of growing in the low light and frigid conditions in Antarctica.

"If such organisms could survive such harsh conditions here on Earth, might they be able to survive the harsh growing conditions on Mars?

"Fortunately, the many varied NASA missions to Mars have provided atmospheric and soil chemistry details to scientists here on Earth, so we now have the knowledge base to be able to conduct a series of experiments like this," said Milroy, who teaches in the USM Department of Marine Science.

Milroy said his research seeks to show that life "can exist on Mars" not that it does or ever did.

His experiment is one of five university projects nationwide that NASA is funding to provide hands-on science and engineering opportunities to high school students. Experiments proposed in two of the projects will eventually be flown on the International Space Station.

Students from Bay High School and St. Stanislaus High School, both in Bay St. Louis, will participate and a third school will be selected soon.

"I shall visit the classrooms to provide lectures and activities for the students and their teachers — training them in the basics of the Martian conditions, the fundamentals of photosynthesis and cyanobacteria biology," said Milroy.