Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a radiation-absorbing fungus first found thriving within the highly radioactive cooling pools of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, has undergone trials on board the International Space Station (ISS) for use as a radiation resistant barrier for space exploration.
In a recently published paper, researchers hypothesize that this fungus could be used as a biological radiation shield, allowing mankind to establish a permanent presence on the Moon or even Mars.
In 1991, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine found three types of fungi thriving in the cooling water at the Chornobyl power plant. These fungi survived in the coolant, despite the fact that its radiation level was 500 times higher than in the surrounding environment.
Now, the fungi could provide a novel solution to one the greatest challenges of space exploration: hazardous levels of radiation.
Promising research
According to the research paper, astronauts studied a sample of radiation-absorbing fungus on board the ISS over a time frame of 30 days in an environment intended to replicate the radioactive conditions on Mars. The findings suggested that a layer of the fungus 21 centimeters thick would successfully protect against an annual dose of radiation on Mars, whereas just a 9-centimeter layer would be required when mixed with melanin and Martian soil.
Weighing less than the heavy alloys that would normally protect from radiation, the fungal shield could help lower the overall weight of cargo blasted into space for settlements on other planets.
“What makes the fungus great is that you only need a few grams to start out…It self-replicates and self-heals, so even if there’s a solar flare that damages the radiation shield significantly, it will be able to grow back in a few days,” researcher Nills Averesch said in a comment to the New Scientist.
The paper is awaiting peer-review, but the initial results of the trials of the fungus have been promising. The paper concludes with an optimistic affirmation:
“Often nature has already developed blindly obvious yet surprisingly effective solutions to engineering and design problems faced as humankind evolves – C. sphaerospermum and melanin could thus prove to be invaluable in providing adequate protection of explorers on future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.”
Historic disaster
On April 26, 1986, reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power plant exploded, littering a wide area with nuclear radiation. The disaster was largely hidden by the Soviet authorities and more than 300,000 people were displaced by the accident.
The deadly radiation has brought great suffering to many Ukrainians and Belarusians. But the disaster also made a significant contribution to science’s understanding of the ill effects of radiation.
The incident proved the importance of the mass prescription of potassium iodide, which now factors into the disaster preparations of countries around the world.
