The findings of the BioRock experiment indicate that bacterial supported mining can be carried out in the prostor. Following the success of BioRock study, the BioAsteroid experiment is currently underway now. In this study, bacteria and fungi are being grown on asteroidal material in an incubator under microgravity condition of the prostor station in order to study biofilm formation, bioleaching and other chemical and biological changes including the genetic transcriptional changes. Prostor biomining is a significant discovery that seems to have a great potential going forward.
Ljudski settlements beyond Zemlja on Mjesec ili na planeta kao Mars in prostor have long been the theme of science fiction. However, serious thoughts and research activities towards this have been in progress in the last two decades. One of the key questions before the scientific community has been on how to acquire the materials (such as oxygen, water, building materials including metals and minerals etc.) needed to establish a self-sustaining presence in prostor (1).
Biomining, tj. vađenje metala iz ruda kroz biokataliza using microorganisms like bacteria and archaea is in practice for long on planeta Zemlja. Currently, this method is used to leach copper sulfides and pretreat gold ores and also to extract metals from oxidised ores and to recover metals from wastes (2).
Can the technique of biomining be effectively used under microgravity conditions in outer prostor to extract materials needed for ljudski settlements? Can microorganisms help extract metal and materials using asteroid materials or rocks available on Mjesec or Mars? Knowledge of microbe–mineral interactions in prostor is also considered important because of its potential in soil formation, formation of biocrusts in enclosed pressurised prostori, use of regolith (layer of solid material over bedrocks) and production of construction materials. Prostor biomining experiments were designed exactly for these reasons to understand effects of altered gravity.
To this end, European Prostor Agency carried out the BioRock experiment on the International Prostor Station (ISS) in 2019. Experiments were designed to study bioleaching of rare-Zemlja elements from basaltic rock in three gravity conditions viz. microgravity, simulated Mars gravity and simulated Zemlja gravity. Three bacterial species, Sphingomonas desiccabilis, Bacillus subtilisi Cupriavidus metallidurans korišteni su u studiji. Testirana hipoteza bila je ako je "različiti režimi gravitacije mogu utjecati na konačnu koncentraciju stanica postignutu nakon višetjednog razdoblja u svemiru''. Rezultati su pokazali da nema značajnog učinka različitih uvjeta gravitacije na konačni broj bakterijskih stanica, što implicira da učinkovitost procesa izbjeljivanja ostaje ista u različitim uvjetima gravitacije. Ovi nalazi BioRock eksperimenta ukazuju na to da se rudarenje uz pomoć bakterija može provoditi u prostoru. Svemirsko biominiranje značajno je otkriće koje izgleda ima veliki potencijal za budućnost (3,4).
Nakon uspjeha BioRock studije, eksperiment BioAsteroid je trenutno u tijeku. U ovoj studiji, bakterije i gljive uzgajaju se na asteroidnom materijalu u inkubatoru pod mikrogravitacijskim uvjetima svemirske stanice kako bi se proučavalo stvaranje biofilma, biolupanje i druge kemijske i biološke promjene uključujući genetske promjene transkripcije.(5).
With these stepping stones, the humanity is surely inching forward towards ljudski settlements beyond planeta Zemlja.
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Reference:
- NASA 2007. Izvješće o radionici o biominiranju lunarnog regolita. Dostupno online na https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10547528.pdf
- Johnson DB., 2014. Biomining — biotehnologije za vađenje i dobivanje metala iz ruda i otpadnih materijala. Trenutno mišljenje u biotehnologiji. Svezak 30, prosinac 2014., stranice 24-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2014.04.008
- Cockell, CS, Santomartino, R., Finster, K. et al., 2020. Eksperiment biominiranja svemirske stanice pokazuje ekstrakciju rijetkih zemljanih elemenata u mikrogravitaciji i gravitaciji Marsa. Objavljeno: 10. studenog 2020. Nature Communication 11, 5523 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19276-w
- Santomartino R., Waajen A., et al 2020. Nema utjecaja mikrogravitacije i simulirane gravitacije Marsa na konačne koncentracije bakterijskih stanica na Međunarodnoj svemirskoj postaji: Primjena u svemirskoj bioprodukciji. Frontiers in Microbiology., 14. listopada 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.579156
- UK Space Agency 2020. Priopćenje za javnost – Studija biominiranja mogla bi otključati buduća naselja na drugim svjetovima. Objavljeno 5. prosinca 2020. Dostupno online na https://www.gov.uk/government/news/biomining-study-could-unlock-future-settlements-on-other-worlds
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