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A UK-led space mining experiment, which has the potential to provide resources for future missions to the Moon and Mars, is expected to take off on Saturday for its journey to the International Space Station (ISS).
Experiments on the (ISS) have shown that the biomining process will work in microgravity conditions.
The discovery could help the first space settlers collect the minerals they need to build a long-term presence beyond Earth.
The BioAsteroid experiment is expected to be launched into orbit on a SpaceX rocket on Saturday at 4:09 pm.
It will occupy containers the size of a matchbox carrying asteroid rock.
This will then be used to grow bacteria and fungi in an incubator for three weeks to study how gravity affects the interaction between microbes and reduced gravity rock.
Scientists will study how microbes extract materials from rocks in space.
On Earth, microbes are used in some mines as a friendly way to access metals, they digest rock, and what remains are the metals that miners need.
If successful, the method would support efforts to explore the moon and Mars, allowing humans to mine building materials, water or rocket fuel.
Experimenting on the ISS allows scientists to carry out investigations under conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth.
Libby Jackson, head of the human exploration program at the British Space Agency, said: “If we want to continue exploring space and pushing the boundaries of what is possible, then we will need to create or find the essential elements necessary to the life.
“Thanks to our membership of the European Space Agency, British scientists are able to exploit the unique scientific facilities available on the ISS and are at the forefront of efforts to recreate the foundations of life on Earth.
“The new Bioreactor Express program, of which this experiment is a part, will change the way we are able to use this unique laboratory, opening up new opportunities for British scientists and organizations to undertake science in space.”
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and Kayser Space, based in the Harwell space cluster in Oxfordshire, collaborated on the project.
Professor Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh said: “To sustain humans beyond the Earth permanently, we need to have access to useful materials.
“This experiment improves our ability to do that.
“It will also provide fundamental new insights into processes that are useful here on Earth, such as biomination and how microbes form biofilms that soil our industrial pipes and plants.”
The experiment is expected to be launched on the ISS with the SpX-21, a commercial refueling service mission contracted by NASA and flown by SpaceX using a Cargo Dragon 2.
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