#42: Case for Biotech on Mars

Hi All, Stellie J Ford IV and I (colin) were invited to the Veriditas Mars Biotech Workshop in Boston in Jan 2020.

The Case for BioTech on Mars:  The stepwise application of biotechnology will be instrumental to addressing four key challenges of Martian settlement.

Shannon N. Nangle, Mikhail Y. Wolfson, Lucas Hartsough, Natalie J. Ma, Christopher E. Mason, Massimo Merighi, Vinitra Nathan, Pamela A. Silver, Mark Simon, Jacob Swett, David B. Thompson and Marika Ziesack

(download the pdf here:   the-case-for-biotech-on-mars).

Hi all,  This one is going back to just before the pandemic and I didn’t get the post finished.  Thanks goodness for “cleaning house”, haha.  It was an honor to be the least “educated” person in the room when the other participants were at this level!  Check the abstract from the paper below.  Stellie and I are not referenced but were proud to be invited and have a chance to share our experiences and insights.

Abstract: “Human exploration of Mars is one of the major scientific and technological endeavors of our time. It will enable the discovery and settlement of another world while galvanizing the development of technologies to promote human flourishing on Earth. Work is underway to demonstrate that crewed missions to Mars are possible sooner and more cheaply than previously believed. This has underscored the critical need for advanced life support systems to enable such missions. How to support life—human, plant and microbial—on Mars is thus our central focus in this Comment. We lay out actionable biotechnological strategies to pursue a sustained human presence on Mars. We then argue why biotech is uniquely suited to address multiple crewed-mission needs and lay out how its flexibility enables progressive, stepwise integration into traditional life support systems over time.”

Cheers all and stay safe,

Colin