Bacteria could help us mine asteroids in deep space
Scientists on the International Space Station got microbes to pull valuable metals out of space rocks—no heavy machines needed.
The BioAsteroid experiment, part of a SpaceX mission, used bacteria and fungi on meteorites, with astronaut Michael Hopkins running the show for 19 days.
Extracting precious metals
These microbes managed to extract 18 different elements—think precious stuff like palladium and platinum.
One fungus even ramped up its metabolism in microgravity, making more acids to help grab those metals.
Future of space mining
Unlike chemical methods that slowed down in space, these microbes kept working just as well as they do on Earth.
Plus, metabolomic analysis showed increased production of certain molecules in microgravity, including carboxylic acids, which could be useful for mining or even medicine.
This means future astronauts might use microbes instead of bulky gear to get resources from asteroids—making deep-space missions lighter and cheaper.