Mark Megahan
The Department of Defense feels a “critical” need for space microbes. DARPA has an ominously designated “biological technologies office” which “started a new program called B-SURE, short for bio-manufacturing, survival, utility and reliability beyond Earth.”
Microscopic factories in space
According to Pentagon officials, “there is a critical DoD need for the continued development and expansion of orbital manufacturing to enable and ensure supply chain resiliency.”
America’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has a new program which “will explore options to conduct bio-manufacturing in space.” DARPA’s idea is to use “biological systems like microbes to construct materials for use in orbital operations.”
A recent news release issued by project manager Anne Cheever explains the “B-SURE program is a fundamental study that will explore adapting microbes to space conditions.
They hope to develop technology enabling orbital production of molecules needed for exploration of our solar system.
Leveraging life itself as mini-machines, Bio-manufacturing “is an emerging sector of the biotechnology industry.”
A race is on for test-tube crafted creatures engineered to make products “using living systems such as microorganisms, animal cells or plant cells.” Uncle Sam wants to do that in space. The big brass is convinced that’s important.
Orbital manufacturing
DARPA is convinced there “is a critical DoD need for the continued development and expansion of orbital manufacturing to enable and ensure supply chain resiliency, sustained technological superiority, and asset security and repair for current and future operations.”
That says a whole lot without saying much at all. Space microbe manufacturing is a crash priority. “The announcement published Nov. 22 asks for proposals by January 25.” That doesn’t leave much time.
First they will verify the idea has half a chance of working. “B-SURE will conduct research to establish the feasibility of bio-manufacturing in space.”
One of the initial goals is to “develop economic models to determine the utility of bio-manufacturing as a viable approach” to orbital factories.
The general idea is to “use bio-manufacturing techniques to produce fuels or other materials in space using fermentation equipment, feedstocks and microbes that each convert the feedstock into a different useful molecule, material, or product.” It takes a whole lot of fuel to get a little fuel into orbit.
“This is the eventual goal of space biomanufacturing; bring the microbes and equipment you need to manufacture a wide range of raw materials or products that become critical during the course of the mission.” As it stands right now, there isn’t a single thing we can make in orbit, which means it all must be shipped up from Mother Earth at enormous shipping cost. “The B-SURE program is an important first step in addressing fundamental biomanufacturing questions to develop this capability.”
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