8 hours ago
https://bigthink.com/science-tech/the-fi...-be-alive/
EXCERPTS: Off-world construction runs into one overwhelming constraint: the upmass problem.
[...] Though reusable rockets are driving down the cost of sending cargo into space, it is still incredibly high. With every extra kilogram of payload adding to mission costs, astronauts are severely limited in what they can bring. “The whole idea of bricks and cinder blocks isn’t going to fly,” says Jim Head, a planetary geologist at Brown University who played an integral role in NASA’s Apollo program.
Mushroom-forming fungi are master decomposers, capable of breaking down woody fibers that few other organisms can touch — they can then turn that tough, dead material into nutrients that fuel their growth. Mycelium also turns out to be a remarkably useful, sustainable material: As it spreads, it naturally binds together whatever it grows through, forming a tough, lightweight biological scaffold. In recent years, startups like Ecovative and MycoWorks have concocted fungi-based replacements for wood, packing material, and even leather.
Some fungi even show remarkable resistance to radiation. In 1997 and 1998, scientists exploring the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovered black, blue, and brown fungal molds growing on the inner walls and ceilings of contaminated buildings, seemingly indifferent to the gamma radiation in the area. In the contaminated soil just outside, they found fungal filaments growing toward radioactive particles, similar to the way a plant’s leaves will reach toward sunlight.
A few scientists suggested that these dark fungi might actually harness radiation as an energy source — a still-controversial claim — but one thing is clear: They can tolerate intense radiation. The melanin pigments that they produce — distantly related to the melanin that colors human skin — can absorb and mitigate not only UV radiation, but also far more potent gamma rays.
Taken together, these traits make fungi more than a scientific curiosity. For a small group of researchers at NASA, they’ve begun to look like a lifeline for survival beyond Earth.
[...] The goal of the Mycotecture Off Planet project is to develop a lightweight fabric structure with an interior divided into compartments, seeded with dehydrated fungal spores and starter nutrients. The structure could then be folded like origami, packed into a rocket, and flown to the Moon or Mars. Once unfolded, water — potentially mixed with local dirt — would be flushed through the compartments. As the fungi grow, they would expand to fill the compartments, inflating the building into a squarish dome in which humans could work and sleep.
[...] Rothschild has already moved on to growing her fungi with synthetic dirts that mimic lunar and Martian mineral compositions. Maikel Rheinstädter, an astrobiologist at McMaster University in Canada, is testing how well these fungi tolerate the high radiation levels and extreme temperature swings they would experience during the lunar day-night cycle. The fungi blocks and sheets that they’ve produced are already good thermal insulators — critical for a human habitat on the Moon or Mars.
Given the remarkable radiation tolerance displayed by the molds discovered at Chernobyl, fungi might also provide radiation shielding — Maurer imagines growing thin layers of them inside the inflated buildings to shield the astronauts living within. Another team, led by Radames Cordero and Arturo Casadevall, biologists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is developing composite materials made with fungal melanin and mycelia, which they have tested as radiation shields on the International Space Station.
[...] The work is still early, and significant engineering hurdles remain, but the promise is clear: Fungi thrive in harsh environments, tolerate extremes that would destroy most organisms, and can continually grow and repair themselves over time. If that resilience can be harnessed for off-world construction, it could reduce the need to haul massive quantities of building material across space — bringing the dream of long-term habitats on the Moon or Mars closer to reality... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Off-world construction runs into one overwhelming constraint: the upmass problem.
[...] Though reusable rockets are driving down the cost of sending cargo into space, it is still incredibly high. With every extra kilogram of payload adding to mission costs, astronauts are severely limited in what they can bring. “The whole idea of bricks and cinder blocks isn’t going to fly,” says Jim Head, a planetary geologist at Brown University who played an integral role in NASA’s Apollo program.
Mushroom-forming fungi are master decomposers, capable of breaking down woody fibers that few other organisms can touch — they can then turn that tough, dead material into nutrients that fuel their growth. Mycelium also turns out to be a remarkably useful, sustainable material: As it spreads, it naturally binds together whatever it grows through, forming a tough, lightweight biological scaffold. In recent years, startups like Ecovative and MycoWorks have concocted fungi-based replacements for wood, packing material, and even leather.
Some fungi even show remarkable resistance to radiation. In 1997 and 1998, scientists exploring the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovered black, blue, and brown fungal molds growing on the inner walls and ceilings of contaminated buildings, seemingly indifferent to the gamma radiation in the area. In the contaminated soil just outside, they found fungal filaments growing toward radioactive particles, similar to the way a plant’s leaves will reach toward sunlight.
A few scientists suggested that these dark fungi might actually harness radiation as an energy source — a still-controversial claim — but one thing is clear: They can tolerate intense radiation. The melanin pigments that they produce — distantly related to the melanin that colors human skin — can absorb and mitigate not only UV radiation, but also far more potent gamma rays.
Taken together, these traits make fungi more than a scientific curiosity. For a small group of researchers at NASA, they’ve begun to look like a lifeline for survival beyond Earth.
[...] The goal of the Mycotecture Off Planet project is to develop a lightweight fabric structure with an interior divided into compartments, seeded with dehydrated fungal spores and starter nutrients. The structure could then be folded like origami, packed into a rocket, and flown to the Moon or Mars. Once unfolded, water — potentially mixed with local dirt — would be flushed through the compartments. As the fungi grow, they would expand to fill the compartments, inflating the building into a squarish dome in which humans could work and sleep.
[...] Rothschild has already moved on to growing her fungi with synthetic dirts that mimic lunar and Martian mineral compositions. Maikel Rheinstädter, an astrobiologist at McMaster University in Canada, is testing how well these fungi tolerate the high radiation levels and extreme temperature swings they would experience during the lunar day-night cycle. The fungi blocks and sheets that they’ve produced are already good thermal insulators — critical for a human habitat on the Moon or Mars.
Given the remarkable radiation tolerance displayed by the molds discovered at Chernobyl, fungi might also provide radiation shielding — Maurer imagines growing thin layers of them inside the inflated buildings to shield the astronauts living within. Another team, led by Radames Cordero and Arturo Casadevall, biologists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is developing composite materials made with fungal melanin and mycelia, which they have tested as radiation shields on the International Space Station.
[...] The work is still early, and significant engineering hurdles remain, but the promise is clear: Fungi thrive in harsh environments, tolerate extremes that would destroy most organisms, and can continually grow and repair themselves over time. If that resilience can be harnessed for off-world construction, it could reduce the need to haul massive quantities of building material across space — bringing the dream of long-term habitats on the Moon or Mars closer to reality... (MORE - missing details)