“We will find mushrooms on alien planets”

Yours Research Project at NASA is divided into two parts. The first part is about finding the types of mushrooms that are best suited for decomposing regolith from asteroids. Do you currently have suitable candidates?

Basically, regolith is asteroid dust, i.e. a blanket of loose matter on the surface of a celestial body. We work with artificial regolith, as it can be on the surface of asteroids or on the surface of Mars. I myself have about 700 species of mushrooms in my library of mushroom cultures. I have recommended a few that may be suitable. Oyster mushrooms have proven to be one of the best types of mushrooms we can use on regoliths.

And recently we found out something unexpected. We fed a variety of mushrooms to find out how far they would grow in the regolith with their mushroom mycelia. Neither of these species had a particularly long range on their own. But when we brought together several species of mushrooms, their scope was much greater than expected. In a way, this discovery underscores the whole concept of biodiversity.

Once you have found the most suitable mushroom, the second part of the application is to find the most efficient way to use it. What could it look like?

The universe is rich in hydrocarbons. Oyster mushrooms are really good at breaking down hydrocarbons, breaking them down, and converting them into sugar. And of course, sugar is an extremely essential nutrient for practically all life forms on this planet. So the idea of ​​using hydrocarbons as a nutrient for oyster mushrooms makes a lot of sense.

However, it only works up to a point. It also requires other important nutrients. These mushrooms can not only use hydrocarbons – they need a boost, so we have to help them. But once this reaction happens, it is the catalyst. In other words, it sustains itself and the more this catalytic reaction is promoted, the more biodiversity is achieved. Then other creatures will grow and die. Thus they become a resource that supplies vitamins, other minerals, and perhaps other degradable organic compounds such as cellulose or lignin. This can make the mushrooms grow even bigger. That way you can support even more plants that produce even more cellulose.