Building With Fungi & Studying Moss: Two Steps Closer to Mars

Ethan Wong

July 1, 2024

Less than 24 hours ago, a moss plant known as Syntrichia caninervis was found to be capable of surviving the Martian environment, as well as potentially successful in growing under the red planet’s harsh conditions like radiation, below-freezing temperatures and lack of water. The Chinese scientists, Xiaoshuang Li, Wenwan Bai, Qilin Yang, Benfeng Yin, Zhenlong Zhang, Banchi Zhao, Tingyun Kuang, Yuanming Zhang, and Daoyuan Zhang, revealed the potential of the moss, documenting that it both withstood and recovered from 7 days under freezing temperatures, gamma rays intended to test radiation exposure, and simulated facilities with atmospheres made up of 95% carbon dioxide and inconsistent temperature changes. The moss also was capable of surviving multiple weeks at -196 degrees Celsius, and years under -80 degrees Celsius. To test water loss, the scientists placed the moss plants in a laboratory and air-dried them; observing the re-hydration period, they found that the moss was able to fully recover its branches and reach its original water content in just a couple minutes. The research study highlighted several characteristics of the moss plant that made it a perfect candidate for Mars, including overlapping leaves to conserve water, and white awns to reflect radiation. And with hopefully more testing, the Syntrichia caninervis will expedite progress toward Mars colonization. 

While nothing is going to beat that research study, NASA recently approved the Mycotecture Off Planet Project which will test the capabilities of fungi to create and sustain a living space intended for future astronauts going to the Moon or Mars. When transporting materials on human-landing missions, the fungi, mycelia, will save lots of weight and space. However, there are plenty of other benefits to using this fungi. The material is lightweight and grows with water, allowing it to become a structurally strong habitat that can sit on the inside of a pre-designed structure. Mycelia fungi pair well with cyanobacteria, which feed the fungi and produce oxygen by being exposed to the Martian atmosphere and the Sun’s energy. With only needing food and water to stand, it will be a good insulator for the cold temperature of Mars, as well as potentially protecting astronauts from the Sun’s radiation. NASA also believes that the fungi can provide a secondary function on Mars: fertilizer for crop growth. While much experimentation is still needed, this NASA initiative, led by Lynn Rothschild, will be exciting to keep track of. 

Like the experimentation of fungi for habitats on Mars, various other initiatives have been taking place over the past few years in preparation for a trip to Mars. The conditions to travel and live on Mars require extreme adaptability, and even professional astronauts will need rigorous training before taking this trip. Many initiatives have taken place to simulate the effects of long-term isolation and gather experiences on what human life on Mars might look like.  

Similar to the Artemis program’s mission to understand the effects of living on a different astronomical body for extended periods of time with the Moon, NASA has also recently initiated the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) which has been simulating life on Mars. The “mission” is currently running with four volunteers for 378 days, which will come to an end in 5 days (started June 25th, 2023). The simulation, known as the Mars Dune Alpha, is a 1700-square-foot habitat constructed out of 3D-printed material inside the Johnson Space Center. Due to limited cargo space for missions, one idea has been to utilize 3D-printing as a skeleton for a future Mars base (although nothing has been confirmed yet). The volunteers are tasked with learning to work and live together through basic activities to simulate the technological tasks, food/crop growing, and lab maintenance that astronauts will need to do on Mars. Additionally, the volunteers can put on suits and perform spacewalks in Mars-like settings. The “mission” is also intended to study the conditions that such a habitat might have on astronauts, like exercise and personal hygiene, and even stressors like limited water or equipment failure which are often part of the simulated experience in the Mars Dune Alpha. 

However, this ongoing simulation hasn’t been the only one done in preparation for future Mars missions. Over a decade prior, the ESA and Russia’s Institute for Biomedical Problems conducted a similar experiment called Mars500. This initiative took place from June 3rd, 2010 to November 4th, 2011 and was intended to study the full psychological and physiological effects and behaviors that closed conditions and isolation would have on astronauts. Unlike NASA’s current setup, Mars500 consisted of 6 volunteers who lived in isolation together for over 520 days to experience the full round trip of Mars (including the 7-9 months of traveling inside a spaceship). The men were put on similar diets to those living in the ISS, and experienced various conditions to study their behavior (levels of stress, adaptability, etc), such as cutting off all the lights for the day. 

While these experiments study the psychological scenarios and experiences that come with sending humans to live on Mars, there have also been many scientific advancements in the hopes of reaching Mars a little bit quicker. The first baby step in getting to Mars is the successful results of NASA’s Artemis Program. The main focus is developing successful transportation methodology and experience using the Moon as a “test subject” before partnering with Starship for a mission to Mars. However, another one of their several goals involves using In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) methods to gain experience in constructing oxygen-rich human habitats (with the help of materials shipped to the Lunar Gateway), as well as utilizing the lunar surface and its materials to survive. One development in pursuit of the ISRU methods is the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), which NASA has innovated to scan the lunar surface for regions of water ice that might allow their astronauts to create a base. ISRU is paramount to sending humans to Mars, as astronauts, scientists and space companies will need experience and confidence utilizing outside materials in growing crops, sustaining oxygen or even creating methane for the Starship rocket. But while the Artemis program continues to make progress, significant research and missions are already looking into these necessities. In research labs and on the ISS, studies have shown success in utilizing solar electricity to create methane from water–a process crucial to refueling the Starship and allowing astronauts to return home or to an Mars-orbiting base (similar to the Lunar Gateway in the Artemis Program). Additionally, on the Perseverance Rover a few years ago, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Research Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) was successful in creating oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. MOXIE works by separating oxygen atoms from CO2 as the atmospheric gasses flow through it, heating up inside of MOXIE’s heat-resistant material before emitting CO and harboring oxygen.