As always, the title is grossly incorrect.

The "microbe", is a blue-green alga, Chroococcidiopsis.

It does not produce oxygen from Martian soil, but from water, if you give water and solar light to it.

The newsworthy part is that this cyanobacterium can survive in the presence of the toxic Martian soil and it can also survive the freezing caused by the Martian temperatures.

Therefore it could be used in some kind of greenhouses built on Mars, but a water source for supplying the greenhouse must be found.

In general, on Mars producing enough water to cover all needs will be the greatest technical challenge. All other substances are abundant enough in comparison with the required quantities, except possibly the noble gases, like argon and helium (but in the non-oxidizing Martian atmosphere there will be much less need of inert gases for techniques like welding).

This is so inspiring. It has become almost axiomatic that Martian regolith is toxic. [1] This microbe research represents a move in thinking from planetary protection (protecting us from Mars) to In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), using Mars to support us. The microbe turns two liabilities — the high perchlorate ClO4 mineral content and the atmospheric CO2 — into the two necessities for a colony: building material and breathable air.

[1] References:

Davila, A. F., Willson, D., Coates, J. D., & McKay, C. P. (2013). Perchlorate on Mars: a chemical hazard and a resource for humans. International Journal of Astrobiology, 12(4), 321–325. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1473550413000189

Oze, C., Beisel, J., Dabsys, E., Dall, J., North, G., Scott, A., Lopez, A. M., Holmes, R., & Fendorf, S. (2021). Perchlorate and Agriculture on Mars. Soil Systems, 5(3), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems5030037

Perchlorate on Mars – Overview and Implications. (2019). (NASA Technical Report).

Perchlorate-Reducing Biofilms Open a New Avenue for Martian Agriculture. (n.d.). Current Trends in Biotechnology and Bioengineering Sciences, 1(1).

Potential Health Impacts, Treatments, and Countermeasures of Martian Dust on Future Human Space Exploration. (n.d.). Life.

I thought Martian soil was full of perchlorate, which produces oxygen if you just get it wet and expose it to somewhere the gas can escape?

I guess we'll never know, because this article is just blogspam linking another blogspam article that doesn't link the actual preprint, just says, "A recent paper from Daniella Billi of the University of Rome Tor Vergata , [sic] published in pre-print form in Acta Astronautica, reviews how one particular extremophile fills the role of both useful test subject and useful tool all at once."

We've had artifical oxygen generation for a while: [0] . It's probably useful to have a biological method.

The survivability in the soil bit is actually the more important piece.

[0] https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseve...

“Researchers tested this by using soil that mimics Martian regolith. “

Would this hold for real Martian regolith?

Source: https://www.universetoday.com/articles/one-extremophile-eats...

Lame title. Life wasn’t found on mars they just cultured a microbe on soil from mars.