https://sciencepost.fr/les-futurs-habitats-martiens-pourraient-etre-faits-de-champignons/
Future Martian habitats could be made of mushrooms...
Brice Louvet, Science Writer January 24, 2020, 11 h 35 min.
Researchers are currently studying the potential of fungi to help build the first Martian habitats. Explanations.
After the Moon, several public and private agencies are aiming to establish themselves sustainably onMars. But the Red Planet is not Earth. To live there, we will have to face many challenges. One of them will be to build new habitats specially developed to meet Martian requirements. And all ideas are good to go.
In this sense, NASA created a few years ago the Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The goal is to encourage the development of concepts useful for future deep-sea missions. Each successful team receives funding of $100,000 over one year. One of these projects is of particular interest to the U.S. agency. The idea is to use mycelium as a basis.
Cultivating our homes, directly on the spot
Three layers of material
Other proposed ideas
Cultivate our houses, directly on the spot
"At the moment, traditional conceptions of future Martian habitats are somewhat akin to turtle shells. In other words, we're carrying our houses on our backs," says Lynn Rothschild, who is responsible for the project, "It's a reliable plan, but with huge energy costs. Instead, we can use the lemycelium to cultivate these habitats ourselves when we get there.
The mycelium is the vegetative apparatus of fungi. It consists of a set of filaments - called hyphae - usually found in the soil. It refers to the reproductive mycelium - called the sporophore - which is responsible for the production and maturation of spores outside the soil. It is this sporophore that is commonly referred to as a "fungus".
On paper, the idea would be to be able to transport very light base structures to Mars. Dormant mycelium would also be invited on the journey. Once there, all that would be needed is to wake up these life forms with water. As they grow, they would then branch out around the previously installed structures.
"The fungi will be able to grow around this framework into a fully functional human habitat," the researcher adds.
Three layers of material
These future habitats could consist of three layers of material. Above the water ice - already present on Mars - would form the outer layer. This ice would protect the human occupants from harmful radiation.
It would also provide resources for the tiny organisms in the middle layer - photosynthetic microbes called cyanobacteria. These creatures, in turn, could produce oxygen for astronauts and nutrients for the fungal mycelium, which would then form the lower layer.
The researchers also point out that everything possible must be done to avoid the risk of contamination from Earth. Once the structure is in place, the mycelium could then be cooked, which would kill the fungus. Both the mycelium and the photosynthesizing microbes would also be genetically modified to make them unable to survive beyond the base.
In addition to the structures of Martian habitats, the mycelium could also be exploited to help filter drinking water, or to extract minerals from sewage. It could also be used to make furniture. The photo below shows us, for example, a stool made of mycelium after two weeks of growth.
Well, visually it's not very pretty, but a stool is always practical! Credits: 2018 Stanford-Brown-RISD iGEM Team
Other proposed ideas
This is just an idea, but one that is taken very seriously by NASA. Other projects have also been proposed in recent years. In 2018, for example, a team of Swiss researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) unveiled a concept for a giant igloo.
The researchers described a dome measuring around 12.5 metres high and 5 metres wide, consisting of a central living area and three airlocks leading to the outside. The structure would be made of polyethylene fibres and protected by three metres of ice. This would again protect the occupants from cosmic rays that are harmful to the human body.
An igloo on Mars. Credits: Claudio Leonardi / EPFL
More recently, the company AI SpaceFactory has proposed high and vertical structures called "Marsha". On paper, they would be made from basalt fibres (a rock found on Mars). They will also need biodegradable plastic made from plants that could be used to make them. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)