Ask Lemmy

unlikely, most organisms need three things: water, a source of carbon, and a source of energy. on mars, all three can be provided but only with the help of technology. water can be extracted from the ground, where it is either frozen (permafrost is common north of 50°N) or bound in minerals (water of crystallization). So it can be technically extracted if you just excavate stuff from the ground and bake it in the furnace and collect the vapor fumes that develop, but i guess without that, it'd be tricky for organisms to get access to enough (liquid) water.

diagram depicting the minimum depth for permafrost to be thermodynamically stable on the surface of mars depending on latitude

source: Accessible Water on Mars (Donald Rapp, Skillstorm, Inc, Under contract with JPL)

i'd recommend reading the whole paper, it's pure gold. 129 pages of detailed and extensive overview over what we know about accessible water on mars.

here's the index:

No but the nfl and mlb will be calling about that arm of yours.

Bacteria can thrive in some amazing places: Deserts, Antarctica, volcanoes, underwater volcanic vents. Basically everywhere on earth, even the most extreme places. So for any one property of the Mars enviroment, there will be a bacteria that can survive it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say there is probably a bacteria that can survive somewhere on the surface of mars. If there isn't, then it probably won't take long to mutate, and evolve into something that can survive there. But the chances of that bacteria being in your potato are pretty slim. Earth top soil is completely different to wherever that potato will land on Mars.

If you want to send potatoes to mars without accidentally introducing bacteria, then yes, there is a risk. On the other hand, if you want to seed mars with viable bacteria, you would do better by being selective about which bacteria you send there, and sending a food source more appropriate than a single potato.

Nope.

At mid day the equator is around 80 F and -100F at midnight.

No. Watch The Martian, or read the book, and see how much work goes into making soil usable.

No, but I've seen potatoes survive some wild stuff that made me have to think about it.

In addition to the issues regarding temperature and atmospheric pressure, one thing I haven’t seen mentioned in these comments is solar radiation.

Earth has a magnetic field that deflects the harmful solar radiation away. Mars does not. So assuming your microorganisms can survive the extreme temperatures and practically worthless atmosphere, they’d still have to contend with that.

That’s a problem for humans too. Any habitat we build on Mars needs to shield us from solar radiation. And even if we successfully terraformed the planet to have a breathable atmosphere and farmable soil, we’d still be in trouble being outside without protective clothing.

Well possible? Yes... probable no?

A single potato? I don't think so.
A few billion potatos scattered all over the planet? Maybe.

First, it would take a year or two until it arrives at Mars. It is very cold on the way. Then your potato would get smashed very good from falling down there.

If the micro organisms could survive that, who knows?

You can test at home. Put a potato in a deep freezer and see how the micro organisms do.