Nebula Public Library

The mushroom-forming fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (PO), Trametes versicolor (TV) and Schizophyllum commune (SC) are known to effectively colonise organic material. These fungi were grown on the aquatic fern Azolla filiculoides (AF), the fastest growing plant on Earth, and that can fix its own nitrogen. SC showed the best growth on AF. Therefore, growth of this fungus was determined under microgravity conditions and high radiation dosage (up to 200 Gy) and related to melanin production.

The International Space Station (ISS) is slowly approaching the end of its mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) and its international partners are considering new mission targets for the future of human space exploration in the post-ISS era. Highest ranked on the list of potential targets are a return to the Moon, Near-Earth Objects or asteroids, the moons of Mars (Phobos, Deimos) and, as the ultimate target, the surface of Mars.

A package is foreseen which will assess the resource utilisation potential of the lunar surface by drilling, extracting and chemically processing samples of lunar regolith before performing chemical and isotopic analysis on the derived products. In doing so the package can also address questions of fundamental scientific interest. The first platform targeted for such a package is the Russian Luna‐27 (Luna‐Resurs) mission.