Application of lightweight magnesium alloy in satellite antenna products

Li, Yuhua; Li, Xue; Zhang, Bo; Feng, Zhao; Li-Li, Jing

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1885/5/052001

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The minerals extracted can be further puri ed and re ned to be used in technology production for construction materials or power generation devices 7,12 . For instance, the extracted magnesium (159 mg/L) is a metal whose alloys are known for their light structure and is therefore highly attractive for space exploration, where increased weight of equipment always requires the use of more fuel 36,37 . In turn, usage of an in situ-produced aluminium could be included in the manufacture of space vehicles, and solar cells 38,39 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomining of Lunar regolith simulant EAC-1A with the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum

Figueira

Koch

Müller

et al. 2023

Preprint

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On a future lunar habitat, acquiring needed resources in situ will inevitably come from the Lunar regolith. Biomining-the use of microorganisms to extract metals from the regolith-is sustainable and energy-efficient, making it highly promising for space exploration applications. Given the extensive use of filamentous fungi in industrial biotechnology, we investigated the ability of the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum to extract metals from the European Astronaut Centre lunar regolith simulant 1 (EAC-1A), which will be used as the analogue soil at the European Lunar Exploration Laboratory (LUNA) facility at the European Space Agency (ESA) and German Aerospace Centre (DLR) site. Biocompatibility tests demonstrated P. simplicissimum tolerance to high concentrations of EAC-1A regolith (up to 60 %), both on Earth gravity and Lunar simulated gravity. A fungal bioleaching setup was developed using a low nutrient medium, that allowed the fungus to extract metals from EAC-1A over the course of 2 weeks, including aluminium, iron, magnesium and calcium, among others. Metal recovery from the leachate achieved a promising average of 10 ± 3 g/L of metal powder. Our study demonstrates fungal biomining as a promising in situ resource utilization (ISRU) approach to be used in future missions to the Moon.

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