Moontank
From Biohack
A moontank is designed to approximate the environmental conditions in a Luna environment (on the moon). Using vacuum pumps and a pressurized chamber, it should be possible to do selection experiments to induce an evolutionary pressure on cyanobacteria to live off of "moon dust" or moon rocks. In fact, Wikipedia has a good article on the geology of the moon (selenology). The surface of the moon is composed of olivine, pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar (anorthosite), and the mineral ilmenite is highly abundant in some mare basalts, and an original mineral known as armalcolite is also present. The maria are composed predominantly of basalt, and the highland regions are iron-poor and composed primarily of anorthosite, a rock composed primarily of calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar. There are also troctolites, norites, and KREEP-basalts. Composite rocks appear in the form of breccias (fragmental, granulitic, impact-melt breccias). The low-K Fra Mauro composition in mafic impact melt breccias have a higher proportion of iron and magnesium than typical upper crust anorthositic rocks, as well as higher abundances of KREEP.
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Cyanobacteria can process lunar soil
Growing plants on the moon
- Slashdot article (2008-04-17)
- Grow plants in space
- This would require orbital algae farms, perhaps. Check out [1].
- How to make a complete map of every thought you think -- Hey, I remember this. From years ago. Awesome. (curse of xanadu)
- This would require orbital algae farms, perhaps. Check out [1].
How to maintain the pressurization of the moontank
The atmospheric pressure on the moon is: ?
- Good point. We don't even need to have the pressure of the moon, really. As long as we can trick the cyanobacteria into feeding off of the moon-rocks instead of the oxygen (maybe put them in a Noble_gas environment for the selection experiments). -- Kanzure 15:58, 14 March 2008 (CDT)
Where to obtain the minerals
Check the articles per each of the minerals listed above. Should have some links. If you are anywhere near any of the exact mines, you could probably go walk around that area and find rocks that have rolled away from the mining site or something, which should be more than sufficient. Clean them off and get to work.
How to simulate the approximate solar conditions
- Harsh UV and visible light
- The lunar day lasts one month (~15 days of light / dark) Junior Lunar Cycle Lab
- Solar wind?
- What level of radiation?
- There was a TIME article on bacteria that live in nuclear reactors (better), getting their DNA blown to bits seven times a day, each time they reassemble it. However, asking for "radiation extremophiles" plus lunar-soil processors at the same time might be asking for a bit much. I think they are called pseudomonas. Check out [2]. Ah, it was a fungi found in the Chernobyl reactor. Hah! Ironically, I've had the PDF to the paper from PLoS open since early this morning -- Dan found the link on the mailing list. Thanks Dan: one step ahead, or something. Researcher [3] and [4]. -- Kanzure 10:11, 23 March 2008 (CDT)
How to obtain the relevant bacteria?
Which lines have been tried and which lines also make sense?
