Microorganisms aboard the International Space Station have extracted dozens of metals from actual asteroid fragments, a result that strengthens the case for biology-driven mining on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The BioAsteroid experiment tested fungi against L-chondrite meteorite material in microgravity, measuring the release of 44 elements, while earlier work in the BioRock program showed bacteria could pull rare earth elements from basalt under simulated Martian gravity with no loss in cell growth. Together, these findings suggest that tiny organisms could become essential industrial tools for any crew venturing far from Earth’s supply lines.
From Basalt to Meteorites on the ISS
The path to space biomining began with a simple question: can microbes still dissolve rock when gravity nearly vanishes? In 2019, the European Space Agency’s BioRock investigation put three bacterial species to work on basalt samples inside miniature bioreactors on the station, comparing results across microgravity, simulated Mars gravity at roughly 0.38g, and a 1g centrifuge control. One bacterium, Sphingomonas desiccabilis, successfully leached rare earth elements from the rock regardless of the gravity setting. A companion study published in Frontiers in Microbiology found no significant differences in final cell concentrations after 21 days across all three gravity conditions, meaning the bacteria grew just as well in weightlessness as they did on the ground.
That resilience prompted researchers to raise the stakes. The BioAsteroid experiment, published in npj Microgravity, moved beyond volcanic rock analogs and used genuine asteroidal material, specifically L-chondrite. Fungi including Penicillium simplicissimum were tested for their ability to extract 44 elements under microgravity, making it the first time actual space rock had been subjected to biological mining in orbit. As Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh, who led BioRock, put it: “If humankind is to explore deep space, one small passenger should not be left behind: microbes.”
Why Gravity Changes Did Not Break the Biology
One of the most persistent doubts about space biomining was whether altered gravity would cripple the chemical interactions between microbes and minerals. Fluid behavior shifts in microgravity, convection patterns disappear, and nutrient transport relies almost entirely on diffusion. Yet the experimental record now spans multiple gravity regimes and multiple organisms without revealing a showstopper. Before BioRock even reached the station, a precursor mission flew the bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 on the Russian FOTON-M4 capsule, where researchers measured element leaching with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and documented increased copper release from basalt under flight conditions alongside altered biofilm formation.
These results carry a practical implication that is easy to overlook. If microbial miners can function across a range of gravitational pulls, then a single bioreactor design could, in principle, operate on the Moon (about 0.16g), on Mars (about 0.38g), and in the near-zero gravity of an asteroid’s surface. The prototype biomining reactor developed for BioRock already incorporated centrifuge controls to simulate different gravity levels, establishing a hardware template that future missions could adapt. That flexibility matters because shipping heavy mining equipment from Earth is prohibitively expensive, while freeze-dried microbes weigh almost nothing.
From Lab Wins to Lunar and Martian Regolith
Demonstrating metal extraction in orbit is one thing. Turning it into a reliable supply chain for off-world settlements is another. Most coverage of these experiments treats the results as proof that space biomining works, but the gap between a small bioreactor on the station and an industrial-scale operation on Mars remains enormous. Radiation beyond low Earth orbit, temperature swings on the lunar surface, and the abrasive chemistry of regolith all pose challenges that ISS experiments have not yet replicated. Researchers evaluating Shewanella oneidensis as a candidate for extracting iron from lunar and Martian regolith have begun modeling yields and recycling efficiency, but peer-reviewed data on long-term microbial survival under deep-space radiation is still thin.
Still, the economic logic is hard to ignore. Biomining is well established on Earth, where bacteria already help recover copper, gold, and uranium from low-grade ores. Applying similar biology to asteroids could, according to analysis in Planetary and Space Science, significantly increase the output and efficiency of mineral extraction while reducing the mass of equipment that must be launched. With crewed missions to the Moon and Mars expected within the next decade, according to a review in npj Microgravity, the window for maturing these technologies is narrow.
Microbes as Multitool Passengers
Mining is only part of the story. The same organisms being tested for metal extraction could also produce pharmaceuticals, process waste, and generate building materials. Lynn Rothschild of NASA’s Ames Research Center has predicted a future library of dried-up Bacillus subtilis spores, each engineered with different metabolic tricks, ready to be rehydrated as needed to make plastics, fuels, or medical compounds in space habitats. NASA has already framed this broader vision in its description of harnessing microbes for mining, emphasizing that the same biological platforms can support life support, manufacturing, and environmental control far from Earth.
For mission planners, that multifunctionality is crucial. Every kilogram launched from Earth has to justify its cost, and microbes offer a rare combination of versatility and negligible mass. A handful of strains could, in principle, help extract aluminum and iron from regolith, convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and biomass, and synthesize specialty chemicals that would be impractical to ship. A review of microbial biotechnology for space settlement argues that such capabilities, when integrated into closed-loop systems, could turn otherwise barren moons or asteroids into sources of structural materials and consumables, making long-duration missions more self-sufficient.
Designing Real Missions Around Biomining
Taking biomining from the lab bench to the lunar surface will require more than robust microbes; it will demand new engineering, regulatory frameworks, and data-sharing tools. Concepts emerging from astrobiology and space systems studies, including work discussed in space settlement analyses, envision modular reactors that can be delivered by robotic precursors, seeded with microbes, and operated remotely for years before humans arrive. These reactors would need to handle dust abrasion, thermal cycling, and intermittent power, while also offering enough containment to avoid unintended contamination of local environments (an ethical concern that grows sharper as missions move beyond the Moon).
Behind the scenes, infrastructure for disseminating technical results is also taking shape. Publishers and research platforms are investing in better support for scientists who need to access, curate, and troubleshoot complex datasets from orbital experiments. Cambridge University Press, for example, maintains a dedicated support portal for its Core platform, where authors and readers can resolve access problems and stay current with journal updates. Researchers working on BioRock and related projects who run into issues with their institutional logins or article downloads can use the listed contact channels or submit a detailed support request so that their findings on microbe–mineral interactions remain widely available to engineers and mission designers.
As more space biomining data accumulates, the challenge will be to integrate biological performance, reactor engineering, and mission economics into coherent architectures. ESA’s BioRock hardware, NASA’s ISS experiments, and fungal studies on asteroid material have already shown that microbes can tolerate microgravity and still mobilize metals from rock. The next step is to couple those biological tools with realistic models of launch costs, power budgets, and planetary protection constraints, turning promising petri-dish results into deployable systems. If that integration succeeds, the “small passengers” now riding along in sealed ISS bioreactors may eventually become the workhorses of an off-world industrial economy, quietly digesting rock to feed the needs of human explorers scattered across the Solar System.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
