Very tough microbes may help us cement our future on Mars

Tough microbes able to survive extreme environments on Earth could be the key to constructing buildings to allow humans to survive on Mars, according to a research paper. A global research team has analyzed the prospects for biomineralization on Mars, a process in which bacteria, fungi, and microalgae can create minerals as …

[breakfast]

A future mystery

This offers a fun sci-fi premise- a planet full of seemingly random buildings with no signs of having ever been occupied, resulting from experiments with a tool like this that ultimately was never terraformed.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: A future mystery

Mechanoid City from Doctor Who The Chase.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: A future mystery

Might also apply to the Earth once we really screw up this planet - especially if the AI janitors clear away the bones.

[lglethal]

This is a very cool area for research, but the problems are:

a) scaling it up to being actually useful for a future base,

b) performing sufficient tests in a representative environment to be confident of the results,

c) getting the funding to actually do the research.

I have no doubt with enough of c), a) and b) could be solved. But there is never enough funding for this sort of research. :(

[Doctor Syntax]

Where do they expect to get the urea* from? I suppose Martian dirt might contain it but does the regolith?

* I guess a lot of detail has been elided here

[Anonymous Coward]

urea

Felon Musk accompanied by a few barrels of the finest cheapest American vaguely-lager-like "beer" product ought to do that job nicely…?

Probably the best use for both.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: urea

For the mausoleum of first Martian Emperor, Elon I, I would be delighted to donate a bottle of urea rich solution.

[TVU]

"Where do they expect to get the urea* from?"

Astronaut wee? Seriously though, urea could potentially synthesised using carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere and from ammonium and nitrate salt deposits that have been inferred on Mars.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

SLASH:1999

Tony's Beer?

[MachDiamond]

"Where do they expect to get the urea* from? I suppose Martian dirt might contain it but does the regolith?"

Mars doesn't have a known inventory of Nitrogen. Since it's an element, it can't be "made". No N, no plants. There's also the need to have an air mix with an inert or moderately non-reactive component. Pure Oxygen is highly dangerous and CO2 is poisonous. I see this as the biggest issue that will have to be conquered first.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Just reading Andy Weir...

There is a hint to a "tough microbes" source...

[cd]

Lichen?

[DJO]

The trouble with lichen (© John Wyndham) is it grows slowly even in the most ideal conditions.

While bio-regenerating Mars would (sort of) almost certainly work, there is the slight issue of time to completion: it'll take thousands if not 10's of thousands of years to achieve anything useful. By the time it's done, we'd either have died out or will have had a better idea.

[Claptrap314]

Heh. Reminds me of something I was told. Apparently, it was common in the 70s for the solution to a large computing problem was, "wait another year"...

[AVR]

According to a book I read (from before it was figured out that the oxygen released in the Viking experiments was from peroxides) it'd be hundreds of thousands of years to get enough oxygen to breathe on Mars with lichen alone. The book was trying to boost the idea of terraforming to be clear. The numbers are so huge that any amount of design work before starting is justified, imagine what the chance of ultimate success is without an incredibly solid plan.

[MachDiamond]

"it'd be hundreds of thousands of years to get enough oxygen to breathe on Mars with lichen alone. "

That's stipulating there is enough Oxygen that can be liberated by the lichen which many don't believe is the case.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

There is enough rust on mars, so there is enough oxygen. Though not clear: Enough for how many :D.

[Bebu sa Ware]

"we'd either have died out or will have had a better idea."

I just cannot see the second disjunct getting up, can you ?

Syonara I guess.

[bill 27]

I can't help but remember.

As a child I learned about Hawaii and rats and mongoose. Now they want to introduce alien species to Mars.

[Ken Shabby]

Re: I can't help but remember.

Cane toads came to Oz via Hawaiian, must be for the mutual love of golf.