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- Research from the International Space Station reveals the benefits of using bacteria to extract minerals from material found on the Moon and Mars.
- A specific bacterium is capable of extracting rare earth elements from volcanic rock under multiple gravity conditions.
- Historically, NASA has avoided contaminating its mission with bacteria, but it turns out they can be useful.
NASA has always done everything possible to ensure that its missions are as sterile as possible. Sending bacteria from Earth to space is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but new research suggests that certain bacteria may be helpful. The research, which was published in Communications from nature, reveals that terrestrial bacteria could help extract minerals from the material that covers the surfaces of the Moon and Mars.
The research, which is based on experiments conducted on the International Space Station, revealed that a specific bacterium called Sphingomonas desiccabilis It is particularly good at extracting rare earth elements from basalt, a type of volcanic rock that was used as an analog of what might be found on the Moon and Mars.
The bacteria were able to perform their little trick in Earth’s gravity, microgravity, and standard gravity that mimics that of Mars. That’s important news for researchers and could indicate an association between humans and bacteria during future explorations of space.
Typically, NASA and other space agencies do everything possible to prevent bacteria from reaching space. The idea is that we don’t want to accidentally seed another world alive, as it could cause problems later on. If we finally send manned missions or more advanced rovers to a place like Mars and then discover bacteria there, we could mistake the terrestrial bacteria that we brought ourselves with genuine Martian life. It would be quite an embarrassing confusion and something scientists would like to avoid.
However, bacteria are capable of doing pretty amazing things, and we’ve already seen a discussion about using bacteria as a food source or in food production for future long-distance missions to places like Mars. Now, it appears that bacteria can also help us make the most of the material we find on those planets.
“Our experiments support the scientific and technical feasibility of biologically enhanced elemental mining throughout the Solar System,” said Charles Cockell, lead author of the work, in a statement. “For example, our results suggest that the construction of human-operated and robotic mines in the Oceanus Procellarum region of the Moon, which has rocks with enriched concentrations of rare earth elements, could be a fruitful direction for human scientific and economic development. beyond Earth. . “
NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon are coming soon, and with the manned missions included in that program, humans will have plenty of time to play with the material that covers the Moon’s surface. At that point, we can learn much more about how bacteria could pave the way to a sustainable existence in space.
Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in virtual reality, wearable devices, smartphones, and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as a technology editor at The Daily Dot and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and in many other print and web media. His love of reporting is second only to his addiction to games.
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