ABSTRACT

The physical and environmental conditions of the highest lakes on Earth are uniquely analogous to ancient martian lakes c.a. 3.5 billion years ago. These lakes are open windows into the past habitability and biological potential of Mars. The study of their primitive ecosystems and microbial life provides also critical clues to our own past and the understanding on how life originated and survived on Earth in early times when no ozone layer had yet formed to protect it. Diving expeditions in a lake located at 6,014 m (~19,750 ft) in the Bolivian Andes try to: (a) identify the adaptation strategy developed by microbial life in shallow lakes against UV radiation; (b) advance the understanding of both the habitability and biological potential of Mars and the limits of life on Earth; (c) improve our knowledge of the signatures of life, whether geological or biological, and help their remote and in situ identification on future missions to Mars; and (d) survey the adaptation of humans under extreme conditions, developing monitoring systems to increase astronauts safety in future manned planetary mission, which also serve to better monitor general public health.