Test of mining prowess of microbes lifted off yesterday.
The moons, planets and asteroids of our solar system are full of useful stuff: water to make hydrogen fuel, metals and minerals for construction, even rocks that can be broken down into soil-like material for farming and terraforming.
“Virtually all the raw materials you need to build anything in space is already there,” said Chris Dreyer, a mechanical engineer who studies space resources at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden.
The tricky part is efficiently extracting these precious resources upon reaching another world. Read more in Inside Science.