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Funding Office

University of Colorado, Boulder,听Research & Innovation Office (RIO),听RIO Seed Grant Program

Dates

Project start: July, 2019

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Imagine a future where Earth is a zone reserved for living, and heavy industries and mining has moved off-world. Space mining can in fact, not only contribute to this, but it can enable human establishment far away from Earth. While this scenario may be far in the future, the only way to make it a reality is to start working on it. In space, virtually limitless resources exist of some of the 44 鈥榚ndangered elements,鈥� chemical species that will face supply limitations on Earth in the coming years. While physicochemical processes are being investigated to mine these resources elsewhere, we focus on assessing the feasibility of using bacteria. This approach, called biomining, is currently used on Earth 鈥� for example, 15% and 5% of the copper and gold mined on Earth, respectively,听is done via biological systems.

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What are this project's objectives?

Our main aim is to assess whether biological organisms can be utilized in space for the extraction of iron from Lunar, Martian, and/or asteroid regolith simulant under simulated reduced gravity conditions.

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How is this being done?

Sample culturing takes place in BioServe鈥檚 Fluid Processing Apparatus (FPA), a glass barrel used for spaceflight experiments (BioServe has used more than 5,000 FPAs on over 40 experiments in space). Using this established/heritage spaceflight hardware allows us to compare bacterial behavior results against data produced from space-flown samples. Reduced gravitational conditions are achieved using BioServe鈥檚 Clinostats. Tests are performed with Lunar, Martian, and Asteroid regolith simulants from the .

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The Team

This project is based upon the University of Colorado鈥檚 know-how in space microbiology and geomicrobiology, complemented with a collaboration with expert biomining researchers in Australia and space mining industry in the U.S. The Space Biomining team is composed of students, scientists, and engineers from CU鈥檚 Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Geological Sciences, and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB) departments, biomining experts from the听 in Australia, and , a U.S. startup company knowledgeable on space in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).

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Principal Investigator: Luis Zea, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator: Jesse Colangelo, Ph.D.

Collaborators: Yosephine Gumulya, Ph.D. and Anna Kaksonen, D.Tech. (CSIRO), and Jim Crowell (Crow Industries)

Students:听Tadg Forward

Logos

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Project Bibliography

Books

  • Pathak, Y., Ara煤jo dos Santos, M.,听Zea, L.听. Springer International Publishing

Journal Articles

  • Santomartino, R., Zea, L. & Cockell, C.S. .听Extremophiles听26,听7 (2022). 听
  • Gumulya, Y., Zea, L., Kaksonen, A.H.,听, Minerals Engineering, 2021; Volume 176, 107288, ISSN 0892-6875,听听听
  • Kaksonen AH, Deng X, Morris C, Khaleque HN, Zea L, Gumulya Y. . Microorganisms. 2021; 9(12):2416.听
  • Kaksonen, A. H., Deng, X., Bohu, T., Zea, L., Khaleque, H. N., Gumulya, Y., ... & Cheng, K. Y. (2020). . Hydrometallurgy, 105376.听

Undergraduate Honor's Thesis

  • Forward, T. (2020) , (Honor鈥檚 Thesis - Adviser: Luis Zea) University of Colorado, Boulder

Conference Papers and Posters,听Podcasts, and STEM outreach

  • Fiske Planetarium Podcast 鈥淎 View From Earth鈥�,听Episode 8 - Life finds a Way - Or does it?听Guests: Luis Zea听& Bruce Jakosky, July 2020 听[] 听[]
  • Forward T, Allen L, Stodieck L. Klaus D, Zea L. "Growth Dynamics of Bacteria Under Simulated Lunar and Martian Gravities." 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Washington, DC, October 21-25, 2019.听

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Links