The moss Syntrichia caninervis is a promising candidate to be a pioneer plant for colonizing Mars.

Like many mosses, this species is highly resistant to radiation. The available experimental data are insufficient to understand the doses at which it is guaranteed to die. But the dose beyond which the probability of death is 50 per cent is now estimated to be five thousand grays. The actual annual radiation dose on the surface of Mars is about 22 thousand times lower than this level.

The moss proved capable of returning to normal activity not only after five years of freezing in a dark refrigerator at minus 80, but also after immersion in liquid nitrogen for one month (minus 196 degrees Celsius)