Martian Soil Is Deadly. And That's Why It Might Support Life.

*FLASH SALE* Get a limited-time 50% discount on an annual subscription to The Economist at https://www.economist.com/PBS. Sale ends on March 25th, 2026. Discount will return to 35% post sale. The tardigrade—capable of surviving extreme drying, freezing, heat, radiation, the vacuum of space, maybe even the asteroid impact. Who knows, maybe some have hitchhiked on impact ejecta to Mars. And according to a new study, the tardigrade can survive most of the ravages of the Martian surface. Most. When the researchers added a chemical that’s both abundant on Mars and horrifically toxic, even the tardigrade wound down. So if Earth’s most intrepid extremophile can’t handle the hostility of the red planet, can anything? Maybe, yes, even today. Let’s see where Martian life and tardigrade astronauts may still be hiding. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: Mike Martin Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2026 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Adam Van Winkle Alexander Tamas David Paryente Juan Benet Kenneth See Mark Rosenthal Morgan Hough Peter Barrett Vinnie Falco Supernova Ethan Cohen Glenn Sugden Grace Biaelcki Justin Lloyd Mark Heising Stephen Wilcox Tristan Lucian Claudius Aurelius Tyacke Hypernova Alex Kern Ben Delo Cal Stephens chuck zegar Dean Galvin Donal Botkin drollere Gregory Forfa jeff white John R. Slavik Massimiliano Pala Mike Purvis PAUL C PEDERSEN Santiago Scott Gorlick Scott Gray Spencer Jones Stephen Saslow Zachary Haberman Антон Кочков Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Alex Gan aaron pinto Almog Cohen Anthony Leon Arko Provo Mukherjee Ayden Miller Bradley Jenkins Bradley Ulis Brandon Lattin Brian Cook Chris Liao Christopher Wade Chuck Lukaszewski Collin Dutrow Craig Falls Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Donahue Daniel Jennings Darrell Stewart David Giltinan David Johnston Doyle Vann Eric Kiebler Eric Raschke Eric Schrenker Faraz Khan Frederic Simon gmmiddleton Harsh Khandhadia Isaac Suttell James Trimmier Jason Bowen Jeb Campbell Jeff Harris Jeremy Soller Jerry Thomas jim bartosh John Anderson John De Witt John Funai John H. Austin, Jr. Joseph Salomone Junaid Ali Kacper Cieśla Kane Holbrook Kent Durham Koen Wilde Kyle Atkinson Lori Ferris Marcelo Garcia Marion Lang Mark Daniel Cohen Mark Delagasse Matt Kaprocki Matt Quinn Matthew Johnson Michael Barton Michael Clark Michael Lev Michael Purcell Mikk Mihkel Nurges Nick Hoffenstoffer III Nicolas Katsantonis Onemind Param Saxena Paul Wood Rad Antonov Reuben Brewer Richard Steenbergen Robert DeChellis Ross Kennedy Ross Story Russell Moore SamSword Sandhya Devi Sean Owen Shane Calimlim SilentGnome Terje Vold Thomas Dougherty Todd J Lerner Tybie Fitzhugh Zac Sweers