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BACTERIA COULD IMPROVE THE REMOVAL OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS FROM BASALT IN MOON AND MARTIAN LANDSCAPES BY UP TO ABOUT 400%
Small chunks of basalt, a rock commonly found on Earth’s natural satellite and the red planet, were loaded into each device and soaked in a bacterial solution for three weeks under space gravity conditions.
The team’s results suggest that the bacteria could improve the removal of rare earth elements from basalt in lunar and Martian landscapes by up to about 400%.
“Our experiments provide support to the scientific and technical feasibility of biologically enhanced elemental extraction throughout the Solar System,” Charles Cockell, lead author of the paper, said in a statement to media.
“While it is not economically feasible to mine these elements into space and bring them to Earth, space biomination could potentially support a self-sustaining human presence in space.”
According to Cockell, the experiment shows that it may be possible to build robotic and man-made mines in the Moon region Oceanus Procellarum, which has rocks with enriched concentrations of rare earth elements.
“[This] it could be a fruitful direction of human scientific and economic development beyond the Earth, “the scientist said.
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