Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report: 2 July 2024
Your weekly round-up of astrobotany news and adventure. This week we've got moss that could survive on Mars, insect poop for Martian plants, Interstellar Lab’s first BioFactory & fungal architecture!
Hello, Gardeners of the Galaxy! Welcome to this week's Mission Report.
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Chinese scientists have reported that the desert moss Syntrichia caninervis has the potential to grow on Mars. Well-known for its ability to tolerate drought conditions, the new research shows this species can also survive freezing temperatures down to -196°C and high levels of gamma radiation. It can also tolerate simulated Martian conditions combining all three stressors. Dehydration seems to be its superpower.
"Our study shows that the environmental resilience of S. caninervis is superior to that of some of highly stress-tolerant microorganisms and tardigrades," the researchers wrote. "S. caninervis is a promising candidate pioneer plant for colonising extraterrestrial environments, laying the foundation for building biologically sustainable human habitats beyond Earth."
Although microorganisms, algae, lichens, and plant spores have all had their ability to withstand extreme space conditions tested, this is the first such study involving whole plants.
Syntrichia caninervis is a globally widespread and resilient type of ground cover often found in arid lands. It’s stomping grounds include extreme desert environments including Tibet, Antarctica, and the circumpolar regions as part of the biological soil crust.
During this study, the researchers stored plants in an ultra-cold freezer (−80°C) for 3 and 5 years and in a liquid nitrogen tank (−196°C) for 15 and 30 days. All of the plants were able to regenerate after this cold storage, although they were slower to do so than control plants that had been dehydrated but not frozen. Plants that were dried before being frozen rebounded faster than those that weren’t.
A gamma ray dose of around 50 Gy is fatal to humans. However, S. caninervis is made of much tougher stuff, surviving gamma ray exposure that would kill most plants. In fact, doses of 500 Gy even seemed to promote its growth.
"Our results indicate that S. caninervis is among the most radiation-tolerant organisms known," the researchers wrote.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Planetary Atmospheres Simulation Facility allowed the researchers to recreate Mars-like conditions, including an atmosphere composed of 95% CO2, temperatures that fluctuated from −60°C to 20°C, high levels of UV radiation, and low atmospheric pressure.
After being subjected to these conditions for 1, 2, 3, and 7 days, 100% of the dried moss plants regenerated within a month. Hydrated plants kept in Martian conditions for a single day also regenerated, but more slowly.
"Although there is still a long way to go to create self-sufficient habitats on other planets, we demonstrated the great potential of S. caninervis as a pioneer plant for growth on Mars," the researchers wrote. "Looking to the future, we expect that this promising moss could be brought to Mars or the Moon to further test the possibility of plant colonization and growth in outer space."
Source: This desert moss has the potential to grow on Mars
Interstellar Lab has announced that it will open its first BioFactory in late October 2024. Located in Ivry-sur-Seine, 15min south of Paris, the new manufacturing and research facility will span 4,500 m², with 3,000 m² dedicated to production and assembly of BioPods, and 1,500 m² to plant research and laboratories. The production line includes large scale additive manufacturing, membrane production, systems & electrical integration, and part of the assembly will be robotic. The company is currently hiring for several key positions to help us bring this vision to life: Lead Manufacturing, AIT Manager & Technicians in various specializations.
(Whose dog is that?)
In other news...
With Starliner staying at the International Space Station for a while yet, NASA has put its crew to work. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams removed the Advanced Plant Habitat growth chamber from Kibo’s EXPRESS rack, replaced its camera and carbon dioxide sensors, and then reinstalled the research device. This is a continuation of prep work for an upcoming botany experiment.
Read more: Space Station Crews Wrap Week: Starliner, Spacewalk, and Cargo Updates
Emmanuel Mendoza, an aerospace engineering student at Texas A&M University, is exploring whether insect waste – specifically the frass produced by black soldier flies – could help plants grow on Mars.
Read more: Is Insect Waste the Key to Growing Plants on Mars?
A team of researchers at NASA Ames Research Center, led by Lynn Rothschild, has received a Phase III NIAC award - $2 million over two years to continue technology development of the Mycotecture Off Planet project in preparation for a potential future demonstration mission. The focus now is on optimising material properties and progressing toward testing in low Earth orbit.
Read more: NASA Advances Research to Grow Habitats in Space from Fungi
A team from the University of Arizona has detailed plans for lunar structures to shelter NASA astronauts that are inspired by cathedral termite mounts. And just the way thousands of worker-class termites help build and reside in these structures that are found in Australia, the team plans to build these multipurpose sandbag shelters using robots.
Read More: How Termites Inspired This Lunar Shelter Design For NASA's Artemis Mission
ALLFED (the Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters) is developing a plan to feed people in a post-apocalyptic scenario. Its low-tech solutions include eating bark, insects and rats. More high-tech solutions that have attracted NASA’s attention include turning petroleum wax into fat and sugar; using microorganisms capable of digesting methane from natural gas to create protein; and feeding carbon dioxide and electricity to a type of microbe that can digest electricity directly for acetic acid (think vinegar, aka apocalypse salad dressing).
Read more: This Organization Is Working on a Post-Apocalypse Food Plan
The messy business of waste management and disposal in space has plagued astronauts and mission planners since we first started blasting ourselves into space.
Prof Melissa de Zwart, from the University of Adelaide, is one of the scientists who have been talking to Wired about the problems of pooping on the Moon.
Read more: Pooping on the Moon Is a Messy Business
The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) has been in operation since 2001. Nestled among the red rocks in the Mars-like landscape of Hanksville, Utah, you'll find a stark white building known as the Habitat, or "HAB," with a sign marking where Earth ends and Mars begins.
Read more: A look inside — and outside — the Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah
A technology, developed by Italian translational research company Biovitae, uses light at specific wavelengths within the visible spectrum to which microbes are known to be sensitive. Because the light is within the visible spectrum, it can be incorporated into lightbulbs and continuously sanitise an entire room. The company has been working with the team at the University of Birmingham to investigate how effective the technology is in killing bacteria including E coli and Listeria, both common in foodborne diseases.
Read more: Innovative Light Technology Set to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman has a new book, Sharing Space, coming out this month. The Boston Globe shared an extract, about the challenges she faced being an astronaut mom.
Read more: My astronaut journey to six months in space. And what I took back home to Western Mass.
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It’s well known that many astronauts crave spice in space, and the experiment to grow chillies (PH-04) was a crowd-pleaser. But can extremely hot peppers be poisonous?
Read more: Capsaicin: The kick from your chilli can have side effects
Sussex Bay, a combination of grassroots conservationists, locals, businesses and other groups, is dedicated to a pioneering project: the rewilding of rivers, land and seascape centred along a 100-mile stretch of coastline in Sussex. The project, awarded £100,000 in March by Rewilding Britain, covers an area encompassing 11 councils and a million people. It could see oyster beds, salt marshes and kelp reintroduced to help combat the climate crisis and encourage wildlife.
Read more: Give nature space and it will come back’: rewilding returns endangered species to UK’s south coast
Blenheim Palace recently announced a new partnership that will use innovative farming methods to help address the effects of climate change. The UNESCO World Heritage Site faces significant challenges, including a European shortage of available seeds and tree-stock, changing climate, changing soil conditions and low seedling survival rates. Healthier Earth’s ForestFactory concept tackles these issues, using synthetic biology to deploy geo-specific and genetically diverse forests that sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The core elements of the project are:
Micro-propagation: using source material, such as buds and twigs, native to local ancient woodland to create genetically relevant plant stock, negating the requirement to grow from seeds
Autonomous Vertical Farming Systems: growing local seedlings and saplings in vertically-stacked layers in a controlled, autonomous environment, monitored and operated by smart software solutions, to create beneficial characteristics which aid survivability and health.
Biochar: applying circular biochar to soil before trees are planted, improving water retention and fertility, and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere for over 500 years.
Read more: Project to Improve Reforestation, Blenheim Estate announces partnership with UK climate tech firm A Healthier Earth on new ForestFactory concept.
Is there a food that’s more emblematic of Peru than the potato? Long, round, bumpy, yellow, purple, red. Every imaginable shape and colour is on the menu. And the women there know how to prepare them.
Read more: The One That Makes the Daughter-In-Law Cry and Other Potato Recipes From the Women of the Potato Park
Harwell Open Day 2024
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Ex solo ad astra,
Emma (Space Gardener)