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Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials

In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is increasingly acknowledged as an essential requirement for the construction of sustainable extra-terrestrial colonies. Even with decreasing launch costs, the ultimate goal of establishing colonies must be the usage of resources found at the destination of intere...

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Autores principales: Castelein, Sofie M., Aarts, Tom F., Schleppi, Juergen, Hendrikx, Ruud, Böttger, Amarante J., Benz, Dominik, Marechal, Maude, Makaya, Advenit, Brouns, Stan J. J., Schwentenwein, Martin, Meyer, Anne S., Lehner, Benjamin A. E.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8081250/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33909656
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249962
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author Castelein, Sofie M.
Aarts, Tom F.
Schleppi, Juergen
Hendrikx, Ruud
Böttger, Amarante J.
Benz, Dominik
Marechal, Maude
Makaya, Advenit
Brouns, Stan J. J.
Schwentenwein, Martin
Meyer, Anne S.
Lehner, Benjamin A. E.
author_facet Castelein, Sofie M.
Aarts, Tom F.
Schleppi, Juergen
Hendrikx, Ruud
Böttger, Amarante J.
Benz, Dominik
Marechal, Maude
Makaya, Advenit
Brouns, Stan J. J.
Schwentenwein, Martin
Meyer, Anne S.
Lehner, Benjamin A. E.
author_sort Castelein, Sofie M.
collection PubMed
description In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is increasingly acknowledged as an essential requirement for the construction of sustainable extra-terrestrial colonies. Even with decreasing launch costs, the ultimate goal of establishing colonies must be the usage of resources found at the destination of interest. Typical approaches towards ISRU are often constrained by the mass and energy requirements of transporting processing machineries, such as rovers and massive reactors, and the vast amount of consumables needed. Application of self-reproducing bacteria for the extraction of resources is a promising approach to reduce these pitfalls. In this work, the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis was used to reduce three different types of Lunar and Martian regolith simulants, allowing for the magnetic extraction of iron-rich materials. The combination of bacterial treatment and magnetic extraction resulted in a 5.8-times higher quantity of iron and 43.6% higher iron concentration compared to solely magnetic extraction. The materials were 3D printed into cylinders and the mechanical properties were tested, resulting in a 400% improvement in compressive strength in the bacterially treated samples. This work demonstrates a proof of concept for the on-demand production of construction and replacement parts in space exploration.
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spelling pubmed-80812502021-05-06 Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials Castelein, Sofie M. Aarts, Tom F. Schleppi, Juergen Hendrikx, Ruud Böttger, Amarante J. Benz, Dominik Marechal, Maude Makaya, Advenit Brouns, Stan J. J. Schwentenwein, Martin Meyer, Anne S. Lehner, Benjamin A. E. PLoS One Research Article In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is increasingly acknowledged as an essential requirement for the construction of sustainable extra-terrestrial colonies. Even with decreasing launch costs, the ultimate goal of establishing colonies must be the usage of resources found at the destination of interest. Typical approaches towards ISRU are often constrained by the mass and energy requirements of transporting processing machineries, such as rovers and massive reactors, and the vast amount of consumables needed. Application of self-reproducing bacteria for the extraction of resources is a promising approach to reduce these pitfalls. In this work, the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis was used to reduce three different types of Lunar and Martian regolith simulants, allowing for the magnetic extraction of iron-rich materials. The combination of bacterial treatment and magnetic extraction resulted in a 5.8-times higher quantity of iron and 43.6% higher iron concentration compared to solely magnetic extraction. The materials were 3D printed into cylinders and the mechanical properties were tested, resulting in a 400% improvement in compressive strength in the bacterially treated samples. This work demonstrates a proof of concept for the on-demand production of construction and replacement parts in space exploration. Public Library of Science 2021-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8081250/ /pubmed/33909656 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249962 Text en © 2021 Castelein et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Castelein, Sofie M.
Aarts, Tom F.
Schleppi, Juergen
Hendrikx, Ruud
Böttger, Amarante J.
Benz, Dominik
Marechal, Maude
Makaya, Advenit
Brouns, Stan J. J.
Schwentenwein, Martin
Meyer, Anne S.
Lehner, Benjamin A. E.
Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title_full Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title_fullStr Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title_full_unstemmed Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title_short Iron can be microbially extracted from Lunar and Martian regolith simulants and 3D printed into tough structural materials
title_sort iron can be microbially extracted from lunar and martian regolith simulants and 3d printed into tough structural materials
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8081250/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33909656
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249962
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