BBC Focus - 03.2020

FEATURE 20 IDEAS

If wehaveto fleeEarthto takeupresidenceelsewhere

inthegalaxy,youknowwhatweneedto takewithus?

Mushrooms.Orrather,fungalspores.Notto feeduson

theflightoverthere,butto growourhouseswith.

That’sthethinkingbehindNASA’smyco-

architectureproject.Thespaceagencyis concoctinga

planto growbuildingsmadeoutof fungionMars.

Accordingto astrobiologistLynnRothschild,who

worksontheproject,it’sa no-brainerwhenyou

considerthecostof launchinga full-sizebuildinginto

space,versussomepracticallyweightlesslife-forms

thathappento benaturalbuilders.“Wewantto take as

littleaspossiblewithusandbe able to use the

resourcesthere,”shesays.

Manyfungi,likemushrooms,growandspreadusing

mycelia– networksof thread-liketendrilsthat form

sturdymaterialscapable,withminimal

encouragement,of growingto fillanycontainer.On

Earth,fungi-fabricatedstructuresarealreadyusedto

makepackagingforwinebottlesandasparticle

board-likematerials,andRothschildsuggeststhey

couldevenbeusedforgrowingrefugeeshelters.

OnMars,theorganismswouldneeda littlewaterto

getstarted,whichcouldcomefrommeltedice,plusa

foodsource.Theresearchersenvisagethembeing

deployedinlargebagsthatwouldbeinflatedon

landingto providea containerto fill.Thesebags

wouldcontainthefoodsourceindriedformandoffer

theaddedbenefitof preventingcontaminationof the

atmospherewithalienfungi.Oncethestructureswere

fullygrown,a heatingelementwouldbeactivated,

bakingthemyceliumnetworklikebreadto hardenit.

If you’reimaginingorganic-lookingbuildingswith

wallssproutingtoadstoolsandorchids,though,think

again. Rothschild’s current materials are more “like

MUSHROOMSWITHAVIEW

Space missions test growing buildings out of fungus

6

wholewheatbreadthat’sbeenleftout”,althoughshe

saystheycouldbebrightenedupbyaddingcolour

pigments,throughgeneticmodifications.

Rothschildalreadyhasa myco-madestoolinher

office,whichtookherstudentsabouttwoweeksto

grow,andtheteamhasplansforfull-scalestructures.

Butforfuturespacemissions,they’dliketo sendan

advancepartyof robotsto dotheworkforthem.

“WhenI travel,I wanta hotelto goto,”says

Rothschild.“I don’twantto arriveat anairportand

theysay‘we’regoingto buildthehoteltonight’andsoI

thinktheidealsituationwouldbeto sendprecursor

missions where these things were erected.”

NASAareexploringideas

thatinvolvesendinglarge

3DprinterstoMars,that

willusematerialsourced

fromMars,butusing

fungalsporeswill

significantlyreduce the

payload weight