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CLUSTER: Creative Lunar Utilization Systems to Transform Extraterrestrial Regolith NASA AMES ACADEMY 2009 MOTIVATIONS: • To aid the current plan to travel to the Moon and Mars • ISRU will decrease several aspects of a mission: • Mass • Cost • Risk 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY SCENARIO: • On the Moon • Fully Controlled Environment/Ventilation • Using microbes to create a more hospitable growth environment for plants 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY GOALS: • Acidity: • • To determine whether acidophilic microbes will free up the elements needed to grow plants in lunar regolith simulant Plants: • To determine whether microbial co-cultures have improved the habitability of the regolith simulant environment 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY ACIDITY: USING ACIDOPHILES TO RELEASE ELEMENTS IN REGOLITH MICROBE CULTURE: • Co-culture of Cyanidium caldarium (red alga) and Ferroplasma acidarmanus (archaean) with media mixture of nutrients (thrive in low pH and 40°C) • Control Group 1 (regolith slurry with HCL) • Control Group 2 (regolith slurry with DDI water) 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY RESULTS: pH tended towards neutrality in all samples 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY RESULTS: Conclusions • Rising pH undermined effort to produce optimal growth environment for microbes • Results inconclusive •Need to perform additional chemical tests for analysis Future Studies • Maintain more favorable environment by cycling acid • Measure micronutrient concentration using advanced soil fertility tests 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY PLANT GROWTH: MODIFYING REGOLITH FOR PLANT CULTIVATION PAENIBACILLUS POLYMYXA 9a • A root-colonizing bacteria that increases plant strength, growth, and yield (rhizobacteria) • Similar microbe: Paenibacillus sp. IMBG 156 was shown to release elements such as iron, silicon, and potassium when inoculated in an anorthosite substrate (Kozyrovska et al. 2006) • Inoculation was shown to make plants more resistant to drought conditions or abiotic stress 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY NOSTOC • Can survive in a desiccated state for months or even years and recover after re-hydration • Fixes atmospheric N2 in the presence of O2 ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA • Ideal Test Specimen • Rapid life cycle • Small size • Small genome fully characterized • Easily modified 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY EXPERIMENTAL SETUP: Seeds: Y Y N Soil: N Y Y Control Growth media Growth media DI water Seeds: N (0 microbes) DI water DI water Growth media Soil: N Paenibacillus P. polymyxa P. polymyxa DI water Control DI water polymyxa (1 DI water P. polymyxa P. polymyxa (0 microbes) DI water Paenibacillus P. polymyxa P. polymyxa DI water polymyxa & DI water P. Polymyxa & P. Polymyxa & Nostoc Nostoc microbe) Nostoc (2 microbes) 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY OBSERVATIONS • Two forms of growth not • expected: • White, fibrous growth on three samples • White flecks on at least 2 samples Changes in top layer of regolith: • Lighter, cake-like texture • Occured SOLELY in experiments NOT inoculated with microbes 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY CAKE-LIKE LAYER WHITE FLAKES 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY PHOSPHOLIPID FATTY ACID • Key component the cell membrane • Decompose quickly upon cell death • Test evaluates concentration of the six structural groups of PLFA in the surviving microbes • Expected results: •Co-cultures will demonstrate more microbial growth than single cultures •Contaminated samples will be identified 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY SOIL FERTILITY TESTING • Uses a commercially available kit: Forestry Suppliers’ Soil Analysis FIELD Kit • Detects basic nutrients: Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus levels in soil • Expected results: Soil samples that have had microbes growing will have higher concentrations on these necessary nutrients 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY EVIDENCE OF GROWTH • Trial to determine optimal slurry composition • Added microbes and incubated, covered, for 3 weeks REGOLITH MICROGRAPH OF TRIAL SLURRY 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NOSTOC FLUORESCENT MICROGRAPH OF TRIAL SLURRY NASA AMES ACADEMY DISCUSSION: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE FUTURE STUDY • Perform study to determine optimal time between inoculating and planting seeds (abandoned due to time constraints) • Perform the experiments using different co-cultures • Conduct tests to determine a more optimal slurry mixture/slurry creation technique • Perform the experiments again using a food producing plant such as wheat 18 SEPTEMBER 2009 NASA AMES ACADEMY THANK YOU: Jon Rask Yuri Griko Matt Reyes Lee Bebout Brad Bailey Anita Mantri Brad Bebout Pete Worden Chris McKay Erin Tranfield Erich Fleming Kristina Gibbs Orlando Santos Eduardo Almeida Lockheed Martin Lunar Science Institute California Space Authority SPECIAL THANKS TO: California Space Grant Alabama Space Grant New York Space Grant Florida Space Grant Kentucky Space Grant Massachusetts Space Grant Hawaii Space Grant Texas Space Grant Michigan Space Grant JAXA QUESTIONS?