“Descend, bold traveler … and you will attain the center of the Earth” is a line from Jules Verne’s book Journey to the Center of the Earth and recently, this exact line was used to name a unique form of life found 2 miles beneath a gold mine in Africa.

The bacteria is called Desulforudis audaxviator and it’s unique because of its ability to live in complete isolation from sunlight, oxygen and other bacteria. If we ever wondered how it would be possible for life forms to survive on other planets, completely isolated, a look at D. audaxviator.

This discovery marks the first know example of an ecosystem of only one species, which is self-sufficient. It all began when researchers curious what kind of life forms were living in the mine’s fissures, tested approximately 5,600 liters of mine water out of which 99.9% showed traces of this only species, Desulforudis audaxviator. Researchers were able to find out that this certain microbe is able to extract energy and food from water, rocks and radioactive decay of uranium.

This new find caused some commotion in the field, mainly because the bacteria shows exactly how a life form would be able to exist on planets like Mars, or on Enceladus, Saturn’s moon. This new found life form is proof that life forms can exist without access to sunlight and in complete isolation, being completely self sufficient. Desulforudis audaxviator doesn’t lead the path to green aliens with big, black eyes, and nor does it prove that there is extraterrestrial life, it only goes to show that life on other planets is feasible.