China’s space station will test if methane on Mars comes from archaebacteria

http://j.people.com.cn/n3/2024/0119/c95952-20124309.html

The science experiment payload aboard China’s space freighter Tianzhou 7 includes anaerobic archaea, the main source of methane gas in the earth’s atmosphere, originating from anaerobic environments such as the deep sea, rice fields, and ruminant stomachs. The anaerobic archaea will be tested in the Chinese space station whether they can survive in an environment simulating Mars and the extremes of space radiation. This will help solve one of a great mystery: whether extraterrestrial life has produced the methane gas detected on Mars.