Edinburgh space mining experiments head to ISS

Scientists at Edinburgh University have developed 18 matchbox-sized prototype biomining reactors to test how low gravity affects the ability of bacteria to extract materials such as iron, calcium and magnesium from space rocks.

The devices will undergo tests on the International Space Station, which involve exposing basalt rock to the bacteria before they are returned to Earth to be analysed in a lab.

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The study could aid efforts to establish manned settlements on other planets by helping develop ways to source minerals essential for survival in space. Findings from the biomining tests could also inform efforts on Earth in recovering of metals from ores.

“This experiment will give us new fundamental insights into the behaviour of microbes in space, their applications in space exploration and how they might be used more effectively on Earth in all the myriad way that microbes affect our lives,” said project leader Prof Charles Cockell from Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy.