Overview
- Peer-reviewed results published Jan. 7 in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry show that treated waste streams can mobilize nutrients and trigger surface weathering in regolith simulants.
- Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLiSS) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center produce a nutrient-dense effluent from synthetic sewage used in the experiments.
- Researchers shook BLiSS effluent with lunar and Martian simulants for 24 hours, extracting essential plant nutrients including sulfur, calcium, and magnesium.
- Microscopy revealed tiny pits on lunar grains and nanoparticle coatings on Martian grains, changes that reduced abrasiveness and moved the material toward a more soil-like state.
- The team underscores that findings rely on short-term tests with simulants and calls for trials with real regolith and plant growth, noting NASA STGRO and Mars Campaign Office funding.