As humans reach out into the solar system, it will be necessary to use resources available on other worlds. Carrying building supplies from Earth via rockets is both impractical and frightfully expensive. The best solution is to find means to utilize materials found on the Moon and Mars.
A new experiment conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) showed certain bacteria can extract materials from rocks found on the Moon and Mars useful to interplanetary colonists. Bacteria mining the Moon and Mars, interplanetary colonists could obtain iron, magnesium, and minerals to supply systems providing air and water.
“Single-celled organisms have evolved over time on Earth to extract nutrients and other essential compounds from rocks through specialized chemical reactions. These bacterial processes are harnessed to extract about 20% of the world’s copper and gold for human use. The scientists wanted to know if they worked in microgravity too,” MIT Technology Review reports.
[Read:
The trick is fitting bacteria with little miner’s hats
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh spent 10 years developing biomining reactors.
In July 2019, eighteen of these matchbox-sized devices were launched to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket. Each of these minuscule reactors was loaded with basalt rocks (similar to those on Mars and The Moon), immersed in a bacterial solution.
Three varieties of bacteria were tested over 36 experiments called BioRock, with Sphingomonas desiccabilis having — far and away — the greatest effect on the extraction of the minerals.
For three weeks, the samples were subjected to the microgravity environment aboard the ISS, as well as simulated gravitational fields similar to those found on the Moon and Mars. No significant difference was found among samples in various gravitational fields.
Rare Earth elements are vital to the production of nearly all electronic devices.
“For example, our results suggest that the construction of robotic and human-tended mines in the Oceanus Procellarum region of the Moon, which has rocks with enriched concentrations of rare earth elements, could be one fruitful direction of human scientific and economic development beyond Earth,” stated Professor Charles Cockell, in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.
Ore… Ore… Ore… Hear me out, Here…
Biomining on Earth assists in the refinement of copper, gold, and other materials from raw ore. Bacteria mining the Moon and Mars could provide valuable resources through this established process, the study showed.