Mycelium’s potential might transcend structural supplies, too. The Mycotecture Off Planet workforce says that mycelium could also be used for water filtration, bioluminescent lighting, humidity regulation, and even self-repair.
Just a little assist from some little buddies
Rising development supplies right here on Earth is already a sophisticated utility of mycelium’s capabilities. Doing so on the Moon or Mars takes issues to the following degree.
The Mycotecture Off Planet venture envisions astronauts bringing a fundamental, compact construction with them to their vacation spot, or maybe sending it on a cargo run earlier than they arrive. This construction could be made from light-weight materials implanted with dormant fungi. Upon arrival, the astronauts would unfold that construction and add water (maybe sourced from native ice) and vitamins. The water would get up the fungi, and the vitamins would direct the mycelium’s progress.
The difficult factor about doing this off-planet is the necessity to present vitamins. Ecovative Design, a number one mycelial engineering agency, grows its supplies utilizing agricultural waste similar to sawdust and corn stalks. Right here on Earth, that’s an effective way to cut back waste and develop sustainably. However agricultural byproducts would hardly be considerable in an off-world settlement, and bringing bulk vitamins from Earth to the Moon could be no extra environment friendly than bringing totally grown bricks.
To make rising habitats in situ make sense, you want one thing that generates vitamins in situ as properly.
One attainable answer is cyanobacteria. These microorganisms use power from the Solar to transform water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sophisticated natural compounds similar to carbohydrates — a.okay.a. meals. Some sorts of cyanobacteria are extremophiles, that means they thrive in environments that will be lethal to most different life types. These are the right nutrient-making machines for mycotecture — taking assets already obtainable on the Moon or Mars and turning them into meals for fungi.
Grand designs
With all of the elements found out, it’s only a matter of placing them collectively. The Mycotecture Off Planet venture envisions constructing a three-layered dome, with every layer containing a key ingredient.
The outermost layer could be made from water ice, which might be sourced from the native atmosphere. That ice would come into contact with a second layer containing cyanobacteria, which might take that water, together with the skin gentle that shines by means of the icy layer, and convert it to oxygen for astronauts and vitamins for the ultimate layer: the mycelium.
These of us who’re eager about discovering native life on Mars would possibly balk on the thought of a habitat made from hardy microbes and fast-growing fungi. However Rothschild’s workforce has been aware of contamination, and plans to implement planetary safety measures like genetically altering their fungi to be incapable of surviving exterior the habitat.
Whereas a lot of this grand imaginative and prescient continues to be theoretical, the Mycotecture Off Planet workforce is steadily working towards making it a actuality. To date, they’ve grown a prototype lunar habitat — focusing first on the Moon to align with NASA’s Moon-to-Mars structure — and examined their strategies with varied species of fungus. With a 3rd spherical of funding awarded by NIAC in 2024, the venture has loads of room to continue to grow.
The longer term is fungal
House exploration calls for innovation. That’s why so many applied sciences that we take with no consideration at the moment have their roots in area engineering. Mycelial structure is yet one more innovation being explored for its potential in area however with many attainable functions right here on Earth.
The Mycotecture Off Planet workforce is already pursuing such terrestrial functions, with a concentrate on how mycelial buildings might be utilized in conditions the place fast and low-cost development is required, like in locations with endemic poverty. DARPA, the U.S. army’s Protection Superior Analysis Tasks Company, has additionally funded research into rising mycelial buildings in battle zones or humanitarian catastrophe websites, the place creating shelters shortly may save lives.
Mycelium is beneficial for excess of development, too. Sometime, it’s possible you’ll end up on the grocery retailer taking out your faux leather pockets to purchase an imitation steak — each mycelium-based merchandise in improvement proper now — and heading to an artwork gallery to see some fungal sculptures. With a lot potential to alter our world and the way we discover others, there’s little doubt that fungi are going to play a giant half in our future.
