Bioplastic Production from simulated 100% in situ Mars resources

Authors

Martin, F. R., Schubert, M. G., Greene, H., Pederson, T., Hicks, N. D., Mancuso, J. E., Isaev, K., Spens, A., Liu, J., Sukarto, E., Nattermann, U., Stork, D. A., DeBenedictis, E. A.

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.

Preprint server: bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 17 Sep 2026.

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