Exploiting a perchlorate-tolerant desert cyanobacterium to support bacterial growth for in situ resource utilization on Mars

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Daniela Billi ◽  
Beatriz Gallego Fernandez ◽  
Claudia Fagliarone ◽  
Salvatore Chiavarini ◽  
Lynn Justine Rothschild
Keyword(s):  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Bacterial Growth ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacterium ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Martian Soil ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Perchlorate Concentration ◽  
Biological Life Support

Abstract The presence of perchlorate in the Martian soil may limit in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies to support human outposts. In order to exploit the desiccation, radiation-tolerant cyanobacterium Chroococcidopsis in Biological Life Support Systems based on ISRU, we investigated the perchlorate tolerance of Chroococcidopsis sp. CCMEE 029 and its derivative CCMEE 029 P-MRS. This strain was obtained from dried cells mixed with Martian regolith simulant and exposed to Mars-like conditions during the BIOMEX space experiment. After a 55-day exposure of up to 200 mM perchlorate ions, a tolerance threshold value of 100 mM perchlorate ions was identified for both Chroococcidopsis strains. After 40-day incubation, a Mars-relevant perchlorate concentration of 2.4 mM perchlorate ions, provided as a 60 and 40% mixture of Mg- and Ca-perchlorate, had no negative effect on the growth rate of the two strains. A proof-of-concept experiment was conducted using Chroococcidopsis lysate in ISRU technologies to feed a heterotrophic bacterium, i.e. an Escherichia coli strain capable of metabolizing sucrose. The sucrose content was fivefold increased in Chroococcidopsis cells through air-drying and the yielded lysate successfully supported the bacterial growth. This suggested that Chroococcidopsis is a suitable candidate for ISRU technologies to support heterotrophic BLSS components in a Mars-relevant perchlorate environment that would prove challenging to many other cyanobacteria, allowing a ‘live off the land’ approach on Mars.

scholarly journals Fuel and oxygen harvesting from Martian regolithic brine

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (50) ◽  
pp. 31685-31689
Author(s):  
Pralay Gayen ◽  
Shrihari Sankarasubramanian ◽  
Vijay K. Ramani
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Phase ◽  
Production Rate ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Input Power ◽  
Fuel Production ◽  
The Phoenix

NASA’s current mandate is to land humans on Mars by 2033. Here, we demonstrate an approach to produce ultrapure H2 and O2 from liquid-phase Martian regolithic brine at ∼−36 °C. Utilizing a Pb2Ru2O7−δ pyrochlore O2-evolution electrocatalyst and a Pt/C H2-evolution electrocatalyst, we demonstrate a brine electrolyzer with >25× the O2 production rate of the Mars Oxygen In Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) from NASA’s Mars 2020 mission for the same input power under Martian terrestrial conditions. Given the Phoenix lander’s observation of an active water cycle on Mars and the extensive presence of perchlorate salts that depress water’s freezing point to ∼−60 °C, our approach provides a unique pathway to life-support and fuel production for future human missions to Mars.

scholarly journals A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyprien Verseux ◽  
Christiane Heinicke ◽  
Tiago P. Ramalho ◽  
Jonathan Determann ◽  
Malte Duckhorn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Support ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Heterotrophic Bacterium ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Martian Surface ◽  
Life Support Systems ◽  
Secondary Consumers ◽  
Biological Life Support ◽  
Martian Regolith

The leading space agencies aim for crewed missions to Mars in the coming decades. Among the associated challenges is the need to provide astronauts with life-support consumables and, for a Mars exploration program to be sustainable, most of those consumables should be generated on site. Research is being done to achieve this using cyanobacteria: fed from Mars's regolith and atmosphere, they would serve as a basis for biological life-support systems that rely on local materials. Efficiency will largely depend on cyanobacteria's behavior under artificial atmospheres: a compromise is needed between conditions that would be desirable from a purely engineering and logistical standpoint (by being close to conditions found on the Martian surface) and conditions that optimize cyanobacterial productivity. To help identify this compromise, we developed a low-pressure photobioreactor, dubbed Atmos, that can provide tightly regulated atmospheric conditions to nine cultivation chambers. We used it to study the effects of a 96% N2, 4% CO2 gas mixture at a total pressure of 100 hPa on Anabaena sp. PCC 7938. We showed that those atmospheric conditions (referred to as MDA-1) can support the vigorous autotrophic, diazotrophic growth of cyanobacteria. We found that MDA-1 did not prevent Anabaena sp. from using an analog of Martian regolith (MGS-1) as a nutrient source. Finally, we demonstrated that cyanobacterial biomass grown under MDA-1 could be used for feeding secondary consumers (here, the heterotrophic bacterium E. coli W). Taken as a whole, our results suggest that a mixture of gases extracted from the Martian atmosphere, brought to approximately one tenth of Earth's pressure at sea level, would be suitable for photobioreactor modules of cyanobacterium-based life-support systems. This finding could greatly enhance the viability of such systems on Mars.

scholarly journals Sustainable life support on Mars – the potential roles of cyanobacteria

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyprien Verseux ◽  
Mickael Baqué ◽  
Kirsi Lehto ◽  
Jean-Pierre P. de Vera ◽  
Lynn J. Rothschild ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Nitrogen Fixing ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Cost

AbstractEven though technological advances could allow humans to reach Mars in the coming decades, launch costs prohibit the establishment of permanent manned outposts for which most consumables would be sent from Earth. This issue can be addressed byin situresource utilization: producing part or all of these consumables on Mars, from local resources. Biological components are needed, among other reasons because various resources could be efficiently produced only by the use of biological systems. But most plants and microorganisms are unable to exploit Martian resources, and sending substrates from Earth to support their metabolism would strongly limit the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of their cultivation. However, resources needed to grow specific cyanobacteria are available on Mars due to their photosynthetic abilities, nitrogen-fixing activities and lithotrophic lifestyles. They could be used directly for various applications, including the production of food, fuel and oxygen, but also indirectly: products from their culture could support the growth of other organisms, opening the way to a wide range of life-support biological processes based on Martian resources. Here we give insights into how and why cyanobacteria could play a role in the development of self-sustainable manned outposts on Mars.

scholarly journals Towards the colonization of Mars by in-situ resource utilization: Slip cast ceramics from Martian soil simulant

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. e0204025 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Karl ◽  
Franz Kamutzki ◽  
Andrea Zocca ◽  
Oliver Goerke ◽  
Jens Guenster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Martian Soil ◽  
Slip Cast

scholarly journals Biologically-Based and Physiochemical Life Support and In Situ Resource Utilization for Exploration of the Solar System—Reviewing the Current State and Defining Future Development Needs

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 844
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Keller ◽  
William Porter ◽  
Karthik Goli ◽  
Reece Rosenthal ◽  
Nicole Butler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Fuel Production ◽  
Current State ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Nutritional Benefits

The future of long-duration spaceflight missions will place our vehicles and crew outside of the comfort of low-Earth orbit. Luxuries of quick resupply and frequent crew changes will not be available. Future missions will have to be adapted to low resource environments and be suited to use resources at their destinations to complete the latter parts of the mission. This includes the production of food, oxygen, and return fuel for human flight. In this chapter, we performed a review of the current literature, and offer a vision for the implementation of cyanobacteria-based bio-regenerative life support systems and in situ resource utilization during long duration expeditions, using the Moon and Mars for examples. Much work has been done to understand the nutritional benefits of cyanobacteria and their ability to survive in extreme environments like what is expected on other celestial objects. Fuel production is still in its infancy, but cyanobacterial production of methane is a promising front. In this chapter, we put forth a vision of a three-stage reactor system for regolith processing, nutritional and atmospheric production, and biofuel production as well as diving into what that system will look like during flight and a discussion on containment considerations.

In situ irradiation effects studies in medium- and high-voltage TEM

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 234-235
Author(s):  
Charles W. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Particle Flux ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Irradiation Damage ◽  
Defect Complexes ◽  
Lattice Position ◽  
Electrons And Ions ◽  
The Masses

With respect to structural consequences within a material, energetic electrons, above a threshold value of energy characteristic of a particular material, produce vacancy-interstial pairs (Frenkel pairs) by displacement of individual atoms, as illustrated for several materials in Table 1. Ion projectiles produce cascades of Frenkel pairs. Such displacement cascades result from high energy primary knock-on atoms which produce many secondary defects. These defects rearrange to form a variety of defect complexes on the time scale of tens of picoseconds following the primary displacement. A convenient measure of the extent of irradiation damage, both for electrons and ions, is the number of displacements per atom (dpa). 1 dpa means, on average, each atom in the irradiated region of material has been displaced once from its original lattice position. Displacement rate (dpa/s) is proportional to particle flux (cm-2s-1), the proportionality factor being the “displacement cross-section” σD (cm2). The cross-section σD depends mainly on the masses of target and projectile and on the kinetic energy of the projectile particle.

New approaches for Mars in-situ resource utilization based on the reverse water gas shift

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Zubrin ◽  
Mitchell Clapp ◽  
Tom Meyer ◽  
Robert Zubrin ◽  
Mitchell Clapp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Water Gas Shift ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Reverse Water Gas Shift ◽  
Water Gas
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