TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbially-Enhanced Vanadium Mining and Bioremediation Under Micro- and Mars Gravity on the International Space Station
AU - Cockell, Charles S.
AU - Santomartino, Rosa
AU - Finster, Kai
AU - Waajen, Annemiek C.
AU - Nicholson, Natasha
AU - Loudon, Claire-marie
AU - Eades, Lorna J.
AU - Moeller, Ralf
AU - Rettberg, Petra
AU - Fuchs, Felix M.
AU - Van Houdt, Rob
AU - Leys, Natalie
AU - Coninx, Ilse
AU - Hatton, Jason
AU - Parmitano, Luca
AU - Krause, Jutta
AU - Koehler, Andrea
AU - Caplin, Nicol
AU - Zuijderduijn, Lobke
AU - Mariani, Alessandro
AU - Pellari, Stefano
AU - Carubia, Fabrizio
AU - Luciani, Giacomo
AU - Balsamo, Michele
AU - Zolesi, Valfredo
AU - Ochoa, Jon
AU - Sen, Pia
AU - Watt, James A. J.
AU - Doswald-winkler, Jeannine
AU - Herová, Magdalena
AU - Rattenbacher, Bernd
AU - Wadsworth, Jennifer
AU - Everroad, R. Craig
AU - Demets, René
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - As humans explore and settle in space, they will need to mine elements to support industries such as manufacturing and construction. In preparation for the establishment of permanent human settlements across the Solar System, we conducted the ESA BioRock experiment on board the International Space Station to investigate whether biological mining could be accomplished under extraterrestrial gravity conditions. We tested the hypothesis that the gravity (g) level influenced the efficacy with which biomining could be achieved from basalt, an abundant material on the Moon and Mars, by quantifying bioleaching by three different microorganisms under microgravity, simulated Mars and Earth gravitational conditions. One element of interest in mining is vanadium (V), which is added to steel to fabricate high strength, corrosion-resistant structural materials for buildings, transportation, tools and other applications. The results showed that Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Bacillus subtilis enhanced the leaching of vanadium under the three gravity conditions compared to sterile controls by 184.92 to 283.22%, respectively. Gravity did not have a significant effect on mean leaching, thus showing the potential for biomining on Solar System objects with diverse gravitational conditions. Our results demonstrate the potential to use microorganisms to conduct elemental mining and other bioindustrial processes in space locations with non-1 × g gravity. These same principles apply to extraterrestrial bioremediation and elemental recycling beyond Earth.
AB - As humans explore and settle in space, they will need to mine elements to support industries such as manufacturing and construction. In preparation for the establishment of permanent human settlements across the Solar System, we conducted the ESA BioRock experiment on board the International Space Station to investigate whether biological mining could be accomplished under extraterrestrial gravity conditions. We tested the hypothesis that the gravity (g) level influenced the efficacy with which biomining could be achieved from basalt, an abundant material on the Moon and Mars, by quantifying bioleaching by three different microorganisms under microgravity, simulated Mars and Earth gravitational conditions. One element of interest in mining is vanadium (V), which is added to steel to fabricate high strength, corrosion-resistant structural materials for buildings, transportation, tools and other applications. The results showed that Sphingomonas desiccabilis and Bacillus subtilis enhanced the leaching of vanadium under the three gravity conditions compared to sterile controls by 184.92 to 283.22%, respectively. Gravity did not have a significant effect on mean leaching, thus showing the potential for biomining on Solar System objects with diverse gravitational conditions. Our results demonstrate the potential to use microorganisms to conduct elemental mining and other bioindustrial processes in space locations with non-1 × g gravity. These same principles apply to extraterrestrial bioremediation and elemental recycling beyond Earth.
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2021.641387
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2021.641387
M3 - Article
SN - 1664-302X
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
ER -