Microbes currently are used in mining to help recover metals such as
gold,
copper and uranium. Now researchers suggest bacteria could be enlisted
for
"bio-mining" in space, to extract oxygen, nutrients and minerals from
extraterrestrial bodies such as the moon and Mars for use by future
colonists
there.
More than a quarter of the world's copper supply is currently harvested
from ores using microorganisms. As such, geo-microbiologists Karen
Olsson-Francis and Charles Cockell at The Open University in Milton
Keynes, England, reasoned that microbes could get drafted for use in
space exploration as well – "it's just a question of transferring that
technology to other planetary
surfaces," Cockell says. "It would be a way of living off the land in
space."
The researchers experimented with a variety of cyanobacteria, often
known
as blue-green algae, on analogues of lunar and Martian regolith (loose
surface rock). These photosynthetic bacteria have adapted to live in
some of
the most extreme environments on Earth.
Read more:
http://ow.ly/2DkGT
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/geology2/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/geology2/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
geology2-digest@yahoogroups.com
geology2-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
geology2-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment