A type of fungus found in Chernobyl could be the key to long-term missions on the Moon and Mars.
As scientists prepare for possible Mars missions, they’re examining a fungus found at the radioactive site in Chernobyl, Ukraine, that could turn radiation into energy.
The fungus, known as Cladosporium sphaerospermum, harnesses ionising radiation using its dark pigment, melanin. This proposed mechanism converts the radiation into chemical energy.
This process, called radiosynthesis, which is still a hypothesis and not proven, is said to be similar to how plants use chlorophyll to convert light energy into chemical energy in photosynthesis.
In 2022, researchers found that Cladosporium sphaerospermum can be grown on the International Space Station under simulated cosmic radiation conditions in a petri dish.
When the radiation was 1.7 millimetres thick, it shrank the radiation recorded on sensors underneath the petri dish by 2 per cent, the study found.
The researchers then estimate that a 21-centimetre layer could almost negate all of the radiation found on the surface of Mars. That layer could be even thinner, roughly 9 centimetres thick, if the moss is mixed with soil from Mars.
The 2022 study found that it could be an effective way to protect humans from radiation using local materials instead of having to send more supplies to Mars from Earth, which would be an essential advantage for future missions.
The moss’s melanin, a natural pigment responsible for hair and eye colour in humans, is suspected to be the reason why it can absorb radiation. A 2007 study by researchers in the United States showed that moss with high levels of melanin actually grew faster when exposed to high amounts of radiation.
Radiation is one of the key challenges to sending astronauts on long-term missions to the Moon and Mars, according to the Georgetown University Space Initiative in the US.
The moss could also potentially protect astronauts from galactic cosmic rays, high-energy charged particles that come from outside our solar system or from the explosions of stars.
Cosmic rays are also a challenge that needs to be addressed before longer space missions can take place because they can “break DNA strands, disrupt proteins and … increase the risk of serious diseases such as cancer,” said the researcher Zahida Sultanova, in The Conversation.
