{"id":795512,"date":"2026-02-28T20:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/795512\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T20:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:53:13","slug":"a-meteorite-spent-19-days-with-microbes-on-the-iss-what-they-extracted-surprised-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/795512\/","title":{"rendered":"A Meteorite Spent 19 Days with Microbes on the ISS. What They Extracted Surprised Researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asteroids <\/strong>and meteorites <\/strong>contain the raw materials needed for future space infrastructure, including rare and high-value metals. The challenge has always been finding efficient ways to extract those resources beyond Earth. Now, an experiment aboard the International Space Station<\/strong> suggests that tiny living organisms could help solve that problem.<\/p>\n

In a study published in npj Microgravity<\/strong>, researchers found that microbes can continue extracting metals from meteorite fragments even in microgravity. The findings point to a future where biology plays a role in building self-sufficient space habitats.<\/p>\n

Why Scientists are Turning to Microbes<\/p>\n

As space missions travel farther from Earth, resupplying materials becomes increasingly difficult. Future outposts on the Moon<\/strong>, Mars<\/strong>, or beyond<\/strong> will likely depend on local resources. Many asteroids<\/strong> <\/a>and rocky bodies contain abundant metals that could support infrastructure, manufacturing, and life support systems.<\/p>\n

Instead of relying solely on heavy mechanical equipment, researchers are studying biomining<\/strong>. This process uses microorganisms to chemically leach metals from rock. By producing organic acids, microbes gradually dissolve minerals and release valuable elements.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe setup used in the meteorite mining experiment. Credit: NASA<\/p>\n

The Bioasteroid Experiment in Orbit<\/p>\n

To investigate, scientists from Cornell University and the University of Edinburgh launched the BioAsteroid<\/a><\/strong> experiment to the space station in 2020.<\/p>\n

Based on the study published in npj Microgravity<\/strong><\/a>, fragments of an L-chondrite meteorite<\/strong> were placed inside sealed reactors along with two microbes: the bacterium Sphingomonas desiccabilis<\/strong> and the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum<\/strong>. Over 19 days, the organisms grew on the rock while astronauts monitored the hardware.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis is probably the first experiment of its kind on the\u00a0International Space Station\u00a0on meteorite,\u201d said Rosa Santomartino<\/a><\/strong>, a biological engineer at Cornell and lead author of the study, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A parallel experiment was conducted on Earth under normal gravity<\/a> so researchers could directly compare the results.<\/p>\n

What Bacteria Pulled From Space Rocks<\/p>\n

After the samples returned to Earth, scientists analyzed 44 elements <\/strong>that had dissolved from the rock. Microbial activity contributed to the extraction of 18 of those elements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The fungus <\/a>showed notable changes in orbit. In microgravity, its metabolism shifted and it produced larger amounts of molecules, including carboxylic acids<\/strong>, which help dissolve minerals. These changes influenced the release of metals such as palladium<\/strong> and platinum<\/strong>, both critical for advanced technologies.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIn these cases, the microbe doesn\u2019t improve the extraction itself, but it\u2019s kind of keeping the extraction at a steady level, regardless of the gravity condition,\u201d Santomartino said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chemical extraction without microbes often performed worse in microgravity than it did on Earth. Microbial processes, by contrast, remained relatively stable. Researchers also observed that the fungus formed filaments<\/strong> and microscopic communities <\/strong>directly on the meteorite surface.<\/p>\n

\"HighHigh-resolution images of L-Chondrites in two gravity environments. Credit: Santomartino\u00a0& al.<\/p>\n

How Asteroid Biomining Could Work In Reality<\/p>\n

The microbes were not exposed to the vacuum of space but were grown inside sealed \u201cExperiment Units\u201d<\/strong> filled with sterilized, crushed meteorite fragments. The chambers included a semipermeable silicone rubber membrane for gas exchange, and scientists injected a liquid nutrient medium to sustain growth. <\/p>\n

Beyond metal extraction, microbial interaction with regolith may release nutrients such as potassium, phosphorus, and iron, supporting life support systems. The leftover slurry<\/strong> from bioleaching could even contribute to soil formation for space habitats. <\/p>\n

The study builds on earlier research showing bacteria can extract rare earth elements in orbit. According to Alessandro Stirpe<\/a>, differences between Earth and space were limited, while Rosa Santomartino emphasized that:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBacteria and fungi are all so diverse, one to each other, and the space condition is so complex that, at present, you cannot give a single answer,\u201d she noted. \u201cI don\u2019t mean to be too poetic, but to me, this is a little bit the beauty of that. It\u2019s very complex. And I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asteroids and meteorites contain the raw materials needed for future space infrastructure, including rare and high-value metals. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3844],"tags":[70,413,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-795512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116150246290870389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}