Cultivation of Chroococcidiopsis thermalis Using Available In Situ Resources to Sustain Life on Mars.

ABSTRACT: The cultivation of cyanobacteria by exploiting available in situ resources represents a possible way to supply food and oxygen to astronauts during long-term crewed missions on Mars. Here, we evaluated the possibility of cultivating the extremophile cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis thermalis CCALA 050 under operating conditions that should occur within a dome hosting a recently patented process to produce nutrients and oxygen on Mars. The medium adopted to cultivate this cyanobacterium, named Martian medium, was obtained using a mixture of regolith leachate and astronauts' urine simulants that would be available in situ resources whose exploitation could reduce the mission payload. The results demonstrated that C. thermalis can grow in such a medium. For producing high biomas

SUBMITTER: Fais G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10889959 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature