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With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
Nobody want's to build stuff on Earth and then send it to the Moon or Mars - now when you can make use of materials already present and save yourself those pesky transportation costs. And we'll call it "mycotecture"!
NASA's Innovative &Advanced Concepts program - (NIAC) - Phase III award to Lynn Rothschild:
— 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧 (@DavidBrin) June 26, 2024
Mycotecture Off Planet: En Route to the Moon and Mars
Lynn Rothschild, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)https://t.co/KvLPZV1rD5
Grow space habitats with the help of fungi and mushrooms!
Some habitats, such as landers and rovers, will be delivered to planetary surfaces. However, the mycotecture project team is developing technologies that could “grow” habitats on the Moon, Mars, and beyond using fungi and the underground threads that comprise the main part of fungi, known as mycelia. With this development, explorers could travel with a compact habitat built out of lightweight material containing dormant fungi. By adding water, fungi can potentially grow around that framework into a fully functional human habitat, while being safely contained to avoid contaminating the environment...The mycotecture project could enable a new, multi-use material for in-space construction, reducing mass and saving resources for additional mission priorities. The proof of concept for this technology was demonstrated through earlier NIAC awards. The team created multiple combinations of fungal-based biocomposites, fabricated prototypes, tested materials in a planetary simulator, evaluated enhancements including incorporating radiation protection, and drafted detailed mycelium-based Moon habitat designs.
(Via NASA)
Science fiction writer Larry Niven started working on this idea in 1968, in A Gift From Earth. He thinks of using ocean coral as a building material:
The remnants of the shaping balloon, which gave all architectural coral buildings their telltale bulge, had been carefully scraped away......A genetic manipulation of ordinary sea coral, it was the cheapest building material known. The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.
(Read more about Larry Niven's architectural coral)
Update 28-Jun-2026: I've found an earlier reference for the idea of coral being used as a building material. See artificial coral from The City That Walked (1939) by Ed Earl Repp. End update.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/14/2024)
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