Experiments performed on the International Space Station suggest that bacteria from Earth could be used to extract useful minerals on the Moon or Mars.
Microorganisms are already used on Earth to extract economically important elements from rocks, including rare elements used in mobile phones and electronics. So-called bio-mining, or bio-mining, is the process of extracting metals from ores or waste using microorganisms to oxidize metals, producing soluble compounds.
Scientists from Great Britain spent 10 years in the development of biomeiner reactors the size of a matchbox for an experiment. Eighteen devices were transported to the International Space Station by the SpaceX rocket in July 2019.
Small pieces of basalt, similar to a large part of the material on the surface of the Moon and Mars, were inserted into the devices and soaked in a bacterial solution.
The three-week experiment included the potential of three types of bacteria to extract rare elements from basalt. Only one, Sphingomonas desiccabilis, has succeeded in leaching rare earth elements from basalt in all three different gravitational conditions - microgravity (sometimes called zero gravity), Martian gravity and under standard conditions on Earth.
The findings of the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that biomining on the Moon and Mars could be possible.
According to Charles Kockel, a professor of astrobiology at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh who led the project, it is unlikely that it would be economically viable to excavate these elements in space and return them to Earth. However, he said that space biomaining could potentially support a self-sustaining human presence in space.
He said the experiments support the scientific and technical feasibility of biologically enhanced mining of elements through the solar system.
He also noted that their results suggest that the construction of robotic mines located in the lunar region Oceanus Procellarum, which has rocks rich in concentrations of rare earth elements, could be a fruitful direction of scientific and economic development of man outside the Earth.
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11.11.2020., 11.30 am
Nice post