The BIOMEX experiment on board the international space station: biomolegularand bio-geochemical changes of lichens exposed to space and to mars-like conditions

Exploration of the solar system is a priority research area of the AstRoMap European Astrobiology Roadmap, focusing on several research topics, such as “Life and Habitability” andan other one is “Biomarkers for easy the detection of life”. Therefore, “space platforms and laboratories”, as the EXPOSE setup installed outside the ISS, are essential to gain more knowledge of spaceand planetary environments, which might be an essential basis for improvement of the robotic and human interplanetary exploration. At the exposure platform EXPOSE-R2 on the ISS (2014-2016), samples of the astrobiological model lichen Circinaria gyrosa, a specie which was exposed 18 months to space and simulated Mars-like conditions during the BIOMEX experiment (Biology and Mars Experiment, ESA), was investigated, to study Mars’ habitability and resistance to space conditions. The data obtained by this biomarker-study after being exposed to Marslike conditions will support the analysis of data obtained during future instrumental detection operations in future space missions on Mars (i.e. ExoMars or Mars 2020).