Bioplastic Production from simulated 100% in situ Mars resources
- 1Pioneer Labs
Abstract
A sustained human presence on Mars requires local production of bulk materials, particularly polymers. Prior approaches to space biomanufacturing rely on human waste streams, Earth-sourced consumables, or complex chemical infrastructure, limiting their ability to scale. Here we demonstrate production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic from simulated 100% martian resources: regolith-derived soluble nutrients, acetate electrochemically fixed from martian atmosphere, and water. We screened 16 candidate organisms for growth in a chemically defined Mars medium and identified Cupriavidus necator H16 and Pseudomonas putida KT2440 as promising chassis organisms. Adaptive laboratory evolution totaling more than 1012 cumulative cell divisions improved both species' tolerance to high concentrations of acetate and leached regolith. The top C. necator evolved isolate, referred to as sPL.001, produced more than three-fold higher PHA titer under simulated Mars conditions compared to its parent strain. These results establish a path to polymer production on Mars where consumable mass is derived entirely from local resources, decoupling bulk material production from Earth supply chains.
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BibTeX
@misc{martin2026bioplastic,
title = {{Bioplastic Production from simulated 100% in situ Mars resources}},
author = {F. R. Martin and M. G. Schubert and H. Greene and T. Pederson and N. D. Hicks and J. E. Mancuso and K. Isaev and A. Spens and J. Liu and E. Sukarto and U. Nattermann and D. A. Stork and E. A. DeBenedictis},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.14.748363},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.748363v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Bioplastic Production from simulated 100% in situ Mars resources
AU - F. R. Martin
AU - M. G. Schubert
AU - H. Greene
AU - T. Pederson
AU - N. D. Hicks
AU - J. E. Mancuso
AU - K. Isaev
AU - A. Spens
AU - J. Liu
AU - E. Sukarto
AU - U. Nattermann
AU - D. A. Stork
AU - E. A. DeBenedictis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.14.748363
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.748363v1
AB - A sustained human presence on Mars requires local production of bulk materials, particularly polymers. Prior approaches to space biomanufacturing rely on human waste streams, Earth-sourced consumables, or complex chemical infrastructure, limiting their ability to scale. Here we demonstrate production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic from simulated 100% martian resources: regolith-derived soluble nutrients, acetate electrochemically fixed from martian atmosphere, and water. We screened 16 candidate organisms for growth in a chemically defined Mars medium and identified Cupriavidus necator H16 and Pseudomonas putida KT2440 as promising chassis organisms. Adaptive laboratory evolution totaling more than 1012 cumulative cell divisions improved both species' tolerance to high concentrations of acetate and leached regolith. The top C. necator evolved isolate, referred to as sPL.001, produced more than three-fold higher PHA titer under simulated Mars conditions compared to its parent strain. These results establish a path to polymer production on Mars where consumable mass is derived entirely from local resources, decoupling bulk material production from Earth supply chains.
ER -