Space bioprocess engineering on the horizon

Berliner, Aaron J.; Lipsky, Isaac; Ho, Davian; Hilzinger, Jacob M.; Vengerova, Gretchen; Makrygiorgos, Georgios; McNulty, Matthew J.; Yates, Kevin; Averesch, Nils; Cockell, Charles S.; Wallentine, Tyler; Seefeldt, Lance C.; Criddle, Craig S.; Nandi, Somen; McDonald, Karen A.; Menezes, Amor A.; Mesbah, Ali; Arkin, Adam P.

doi:10.1038/s44172-022-00012-9

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Readying Microbial Production Systems for off-world Bio-ISM While having gained significant traction over the last decade, the study of space biomanufacturing is still limited to small-scale microgravity experiments [86][87][88] (e.g., BioRock 89 or Rhodium Inflight Biomanufacturing 90 ). More extensive R&D will be required to ready bio-ISM technologies for implementation in mission architectures, especially to scale and adapt synthetic biology and bioprocess engineering to the relevant (off-world) environments (specifically Moon and Mars) 21,91 . To this end, the development of microbial cell factories must go hand-in-hand with the development of appropriate hardware for in-space bio-ISM.…”

Section: Paths To Realization Of Emerging Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evolve the technological readiness in the described areas requires scientists and engineers from various fields spanning biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering to work together to advance microbial cell factories and build cross-compatible and scalable processing systems within the confines and stressors of space 21 . Biomolecular, bioprocess, and biosystems engineering must be integrated with pre-processing of resources and downstream processing of products, and tied in with mission-support infrastructure and logistics.…”

Section: Integration Of Research and Development With Public And Priv...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Complementary to, but distinguished from merely remediative and extractive microbial functions, such as biomining 12,13 , off-world biomanufacturing corresponds to any deployable system that leverages biology as the primary driver in generating mission-critical inventory items of increased complexity, i.e., the de novo synthesis of components for the formulation of food, pharmaceuticals, and materials [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . When integrated effectively into mission architectures, bio-based processes will significantly de-risk crewed operations through increased autonomy, sustainability, and resilience, freeing up valuable payload capacity 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biomanufacturing for Space-Exploration – What to Take and When to Make

Averesch¹,

Berliner²,

Nangle³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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As renewed interest in human space-exploration intensifies, a coherent and modernized strategy for mission-design and planning has become increasingly crucial. Biotechnology has emerged as a promising approach to increase mission resilience, flexibility, and efficiency by virtue of its ability to efficiently utilize in situ resources and reclaim resources from waste streams. Since its infancy during the Apollo years, biotechnology, and specifically biomanufacturing, have witnessed significant expansions of scope and scale. Here we outline four primary mission classes, on Luna and Mars, that drive a staged and accretive biomanufacturing strategy. Each class requires a unique approach to integrate biomanufacturing into the existing mission architecture and so faces unique challenges in technology development.These challenges stem directly from the resources available in a given mission class – the degree to which feedstocks are derived from cargo and in situ resources – and the degree to which loop-closure is necessary. We see that as mission duration and distance from Earth increase, the benefits of specialized sustainable biomanufacturing processes increases. Here we present a strategic approach, guided by technoeconomics, to development, testing, and deployment of these technologies serves to nucleate the larger effort of supporting a sustained human presence in space. The processes needed for each scenario spans the technical breadth of synthetic biology to design engineering, from sophisticated genetic tailoring of chassis-organisms to building scalable, automated, easily operable bioreactors and processing systems. As space-related technology development often does, these advancements are likely to have profound implications for the creation of a stable, resilient bioeconomy on Earth.

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Section: Paths To Realization Of Emerging Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integration Of Research and Development With Public And Priv...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Biomanufacturing for Space-Exploration – What to Take and When to Make

Averesch¹,

Berliner²,

Nangle³

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Complementary to, but distinguished from merely remediative and extractive microbial functions, such as biomining 12 , 13 , off-world biomanufacturing corresponds to any deployable system that leverages biology as the primary driver in generating mission-critical inventory items of increased complexity, i.e., the de novo synthesis of components for the formulation of food, pharmaceuticals, and materials 8 , 10 , 14 , 15 . When integrated effectively into mission architectures, bio-based processes could significantly de-risk crewed operations through increased autonomy, sustainability, and resilience, freeing up payload capacity 16 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial biomanufacturing for space-exploration—what to take and when to make

et al. 2023

Self Cite

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As renewed interest in human space-exploration intensifies, a coherent and modernized strategy for mission design and planning has become increasingly crucial. Biotechnology has emerged as a promising approach to increase resilience, flexibility, and efficiency of missions, by virtue of its ability to effectively utilize in situ resources and reclaim resources from waste streams. Here we outline four primary mission-classes on Moon and Mars that drive a staged and accretive biomanufacturing strategy. Each class requires a unique approach to integrate biomanufacturing into the existing mission-architecture and so faces unique challenges in technology development. These challenges stem directly from the resources available in a given mission-class—the degree to which feedstocks are derived from cargo and in situ resources—and the degree to which loop-closure is necessary. As mission duration and distance from Earth increase, the benefits of specialized, sustainable biomanufacturing processes also increase. Consequentially, we define specific design-scenarios and quantify the usefulness of in-space biomanufacturing, to guide techno-economics of space-missions. Especially materials emerged as a potentially pivotal target for biomanufacturing with large impact on up-mass cost. Subsequently, we outline the processes needed for development, testing, and deployment of requisite technologies. As space-related technology development often does, these advancements are likely to have profound implications for the creation of a resilient circular bioeconomy on Earth.

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“…The biggest impediment to progress on this frontier is the lack of deployable technologies enabling outposts, extended missions and, in the future, settlements, to sustain themselves through in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and maximised recycling of resources 5 . In addition to mechanical/physical/chemical approaches, biotechnologies broadly and microorganisms specifically will help enable long-term life-support and habitat systems' performance (loop-closure), as well as ISRU, manufacturing and energy collection/storage 6,7,[13][14][15][16][17] . Microbiological approaches can be self-sustaining with occasional monitoring and maintenance, owing to their resilience, and could overall require less energy than physicochemical approaches 16 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward sustainable space exploration: a roadmap for harnessing the power of microorganisms

Santomartino

Averesch

Bhuiyan³

et al. 2023

Nat Commun

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Finding sustainable approaches to achieve independence from terrestrial resources is of pivotal importance for the future of space exploration. This is relevant not only to establish viable space exploration beyond low Earth–orbit, but also for ethical considerations associated with the generation of space waste and the preservation of extra-terrestrial environments. Here we propose and highlight a series of microbial biotechnologies uniquely suited to establish sustainable processes for in situ resource utilization and loop-closure. Microbial biotechnologies research and development for space sustainability will be translatable to Earth applications, tackling terrestrial environmental issues, thereby supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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Space bioprocess engineering on the horizon

Cited by 16 publications

References 43 publications

Biomanufacturing for Space-Exploration – What to Take and When to Make

Biomanufacturing for Space-Exploration – What to Take and When to Make

Microbial biomanufacturing for space-exploration—what to take and when to make

Toward sustainable space exploration: a roadmap for harnessing the power of microorganisms

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