Bold claim: Microbes in space may turn asteroid rocks into metal treasure, and the through-line is just beginning to unfold. And this is the part most people miss: the space environment can change how organisms interact with minerals in surprising ways. Here’s a clear, beginner-friendly rewrite that preserves all key details and adds a touch more explanation.
As human space exploration pushes farther from Earth, finding sustainable ways to obtain local resources becomes crucial because routine resupply missions are increasingly impractical. Asteroids, some rich in valuable metals like platinum-group elements, stand out as especially promising targets. In a recent experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS), scientists tested whether bacteria and fungi could extract 44 elements from asteroid-like material under microgravity.
NASA astronaut Michael Scott Hopkins conducted the microgravity test aboard the ISS. The study, part of the BioAsteroid project, involved the bacterial species Sphingomonas desiccabilis and the fungal species Penicillium simplicissimum to determine which elements could potentially be extracted from L-chondrite meteorite material.
Understanding how these microbes interact with rocks in microgravity mattered as much as identifying which elements could be extracted. As Dr. Rosa Santomartino, a researcher at Cornell University and the University of Edinburgh, noted, “This is probably the first experiment of its kind on the International Space Station on meteorite.” The researchers aimed to keep their approach focused yet applicable to a broader context, improving the study’s impact beyond a single experiment.
The researchers emphasized that the two organisms are very different, so they expected to extract different sets of elements. Their goal was to understand both the mechanisms at play and the overall outcomes, keeping results relevant for broader resource-utilization questions in space, where knowledge about microbial behavior in space is still limited.
Why microbes matter here: these organisms produce carboxylic acids, carbon-containing molecules that can bind to minerals via complexation, helping to loosen elements from rocks. This microbial chemistry could drive “biomining” in space. However, many details of how this mechanism operates in microgravity remained unclear, so the team performed metabolomic analyses. They collected a portion of the liquid culture from completed samples to examine biomolecules, particularly secondary metabolites, produced during the process.
The ISS experiment ran in parallel with a terrestrial control: scientists replicated the procedure on Earth to compare space results with gravity conditions on our planet.
The team gathered a large dataset—44 elements in total—with 18 showing biological extraction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of L-chondrite fragments under both gravity conditions helped visualize changes.
Dr. Alessandro Stirpe, from Cornell and Edinburgh, explained the analytical approach: they assessed each element individually to ask whether extraction differed in space versus Earth, whether a bacterium or a fungus—or both—made a difference, and whether observed differences were meaningful or merely noise. While they did not see sweeping, massive differences, several intriguing patterns emerged.
Key takeaways include distinct shifts in microbial metabolism in space, especially for the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum. In microgravity, the fungus increased production of many molecules, including carboxylic acids, and it enhanced the release of palladium, platinum, and other metals. In contrast, non-biological leaching tended to be less effective in microgravity than on Earth. The microbes, however, produced consistent results across both environments.
Santomartino summarized the nuance: in some cases, microbes did not improve extraction beyond a steady baseline, but they helped maintain steady extraction levels regardless of gravity. This effect appeared not only for palladium but for several metals, though not universally.
Another fascinating outcome is that extraction rates varied substantially depending on the specific metal, the microbe involved, and the gravity condition. In other words, microbial biomining in space is a complex, metal-by-metal phenomenon rather than a single, universal boost.
The findings were published in npj Microgravity. For those curious to dive deeper, the paper is available online and details the experimental setup, data analyses, and specific element-by-element results.
Notes and citation:
R. Santomartino et al., Microbial biomining from asteroidal material onboard the international space station. npj Microgravity, online publication January 30, 2026; doi: 10.1038/s41526-026-00567-3.
Would you like a brief summary highlighting the practical implications for future space mining or a more technical section explaining the metabolomic methods used for the secondary metabolites analysis?
