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Over a three-week period, the basalt in each reactor was exposed to the bacterial solution to determine if the bacteria could perform the same eroding function as rocks in a low gravity environment.
But not only are REEs expensive to mine, they are also running out quickly.
Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration at the British Space Agency, added: “In the future, if we want to travel extensively in space and build bases on the Moon and Mars, then we will have to do or find the things necessary to sustain life: food, water and breathable air “.
“One of the main drivers of the project is being able to use resources that are already on the moon, rather than having to take them from Earth to the moon – there’s a nice cost associated with getting things into space, and the more you can use that which is, the better, ”Mellor said.
The team tested three different varieties of bacteria, and while two didn’t work as well in zero gravity or under conditions created to simulate Mars, a third worked just like on Earth. And for two species of bacteria in the BioRock experiment, their willingness to remove metals was very low.
‘This is the first time in space that anyone has deliberately removed an economically viable element from extraterrestrial analog material such as basalt,’ Professor Cockell told BBC News.
Some of the tiny creatures of Earth can help us with the extraction of minerals in space.
Rare earth elements are widely used in technology industries, including cell phones, computers, and magnets.
The biomination of bacteria can catalyze the extraction of precious elements such as copper and gold from rocks.
Dr Cockel said biorhog was not created to enhance extraction.
Astronauts from the US space agency (NASA) will try to use the buried ice for drinking water when they return to the moon at the end of this decade.
The findings could help efforts to develop ways of supplying metals and minerals, such as iron and magnesium, essential for survival in space. Now, Metalysis has received around £ 250,000 (about $ 329,000) in funding from ESA for the ideal in an extraterrestrial environment, Ian Mellor, the company’s chief executive officer, told CNN Business.
BioRock on the ISS will soon be followed by BioAsteroid, a repeat experiment with the reactor but with shattered asteroid material rather than the Icelandic volcanic rock blocks used in the first study. The bacteria can also be used for the decontamination of polluted soils. Now, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to combine the two processes into one by giving Metalysis a £ 250,000 ($ 330,000) contract to find out how to adapt its process to moon dust.
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