Genetically engineered microbes could assist manned missions to Mars, the moon, and other planets, says an analysis by Berkeley and NASA scientists.

The study made the cover story of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

In the story, four bioengineers described how synthetic biology or "genetic engineering on steroids" could allow space travelers to use microbes to produce their own fuel, food, medicines, and building materials.

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All of these will be taken from raw feedstocks readily available on Mars or the moon.

These microbes will replace all the supplies that space travelers are used to taking aboard spacecraft or produce these supplies at their destination via conventional non-biological methods.

"Our analysis indicates that (synthetic biology) has a good chance of being a disruptive space technology by providing substantial savings over current techniques," said first author Amor Menezes, a postdoctoral scholar in UC Berkeley's California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3).

She adds one goal of the paper is to advocate an expanded role for synthetic biology in space science, with a view toward future mission deployments.

Their study suggests using biological production could reduce the mass of supplies and equipment sent with expeditions by 26 percent to 85 percent, depending on the application.

This would significantly reduce the cost of the mission, and even make food the astronauts eat taste better.

In its natural or bioengineered state, a specific microbe -- Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum -- could take in resources from mission waste and the Martian atmosphere like carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen.

Together, all of these elements could create the necessities astronauts need.

TagsMicrobes, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum