Sustainable life support for Martian and lunar exploration: genetic engineering and extra-terrestrial cultivation of the edible cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis.

Abstract

A mission to Mars and the establishment of a base on the moon are envisaged in the next few decades. However, supplying all consumables, such as food, from Earth is impractical and prohibitively expensive. A major challenge is therefore the development of sustainable technologies for food production on spacecraft and within bases. The edible cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis has been proposed as one such foodstuff given its rapid growth, nutritional value and efficiency of CO₂ conversion into biomass. This project will explore the potential of A. platensis and focus on: i) metabolic engineering to add essential nutrients and improve palatability; ii) design of a photobioreactor for efficient cultivation; iii) modelling of growth performance under mission conditions.

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