Our little microbial friends play an increasingly large roll in the function of human life, and all life, on planet Earth. Understanding the long term effects of space on microorganisms will be crucial to our survival as we venture further into the unknown. The first extraterrestrial life we may encounter could very well be microbial, and in so, through Asgardia, it is my desire to study on ways to benefit humanity, as well as keep them safe, through our interactions with microorganisms. Microbiology and bioengineering interest me the most because, through these fields of science, we can tackle a broad array of situations including optimal human wellness, terraforming, production of food and energy, and waste management

Uhh.. but Asgardia is (or would be) a space nation and there is no microorganisms in space '-'

We would need to bring microorganisms with us to Asgardia. They are very crucial in our overall survival, especially in space. In order to grow our own food up there and be self sustaining, we will need microorganisms to help with plant growth, filter water and filter our air.

Tendrían que ser microorganismos libres de enfermedades, semillas ecológicas y adaptadas dependiendo de...tipo de altura, tipo de clima. Mi experiencia a nivel de uso propio, las semillas las guardo en una nevera a 5º en tarros de cristal con tiza para no tener humedad. Mis semillas ecológicas están adaptadas a 1200 metros de altitud.

They would have to be disease-free microorganisms, ecological seeds and adapted depending on ... type of height, type of climate. My experience at the level of own use, the seeds I keep in a refrigerator at 5 ° in glass jars with chalk to not have moisture. My ecological seeds are adapted to 1200 meters of altitude.

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There is still so much we do not understand about microorganisms. 99% of the genetic material inside of us comes from the trillions of microorganisms we constantly carry around with us. They can influence our mood, memory, sleeping patterns, eating patterns and they essential train and strengthen our immune system. Without them, we would not survive on Earth, and i think our chances of surviving in space would be even less. New modern medicine says its most important for children under 3 to be exposed to as many beneficial microorganisms as possible in order to cement the foundation of their microbiome for life. Current studies are beginning to atribute many diseases to having a low biodiversity of microorganisms, or having too much of one kind and not enough of the other. Living completely in space, we are still going to have to increase our exposure to microorganisms and have some sort of extensive culture database with all kinds of microorganisms available. Otherwise, over time, through decreased exposure, we will dramatically decrease the functionability of our own immune system making us even more vunerable the first time we set down on a new world

Each of us carries a nearly fingerprint-specific combination of microorganisms that is unique to each of us. It would be wise to identify and classifiy as many of our own microorganisms to further understand their role in our biology. The technology is getting there, but currently, the majority of the microorganisms cannot be cultured in a lab and thus are difficult to study.

A timely report on artificial leaves for food, pharmaceuticals, and perhaps oxygen: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161221111253.htm

You have my support, we have to recreate nitrogen cycle as well as treatment of waste products (there are papers related to heavy hydrocarbons and pharmaceutical wastes treatment with aerobic microorganisms)

I think one of the first pieces of technology we should make sure goes with us up there are bioreactors optimized for microgravity. We know gravity can be a huge constraint in microorganism culture form the experiments conducted in ISS, and what you people are talking about is not only basic research, but efficient and powerful production of bacteria and fungi for a variety of purposes. Once we have the capacity to massively produce microorganisms, we can use synthetic biology as a means to design simbionts (food and agriculture), biofilters (next gen efficiency waste management and atmospheric control) and vectors (medicine) to ease our existence in space and gain economic independence from Earth.

Even If we achieve artificial gravity by rotating habitats, some parts of the spaceship could be isolated from the rotating rings, and having organisms that can thrive there or in case of a malfunction would be of great interest.

You simply have to fill and oxygenate the interested container, there's no need of gravity if we talk about bioreactors

No need because here they have it. Microorganisms regulate their growth in part from the mechanical perception of gravity. Shouldn't reactor design be somewhat different for it to have the same performance in 0 g as it has on Earth?

Not unicellular ones (and I have my doubts for some higher order ones, see tardigrades)

Given the short life of organisms, they are great to use as studies for generational mutations. That being said, if we were to harvest microbes for use in everything from waste refinement to ...well just about anything...what happens when we accidentally create a superbug? MRSA and VRE are perfect examples of this. Sure, those 2 are both harmful to humans, as well as deadly, but what happens when S. epidermidus becomes something virulent because of radiation or a handful of other things we do not know about.

You could argue that the ISS has not had any super weird pathogens since they have been running, nor had Mir or Tiangong, but how many people are/were on any of those facilities at any one time? As I said in another post, epigenetics might be the key. I think we need to find some way to lock bacteria in such a way as to not be able to mutate. Last thing I need is some strain of bug to leave waste management and become my new friend.

@CLemmons: As for now you can prevent mutation only if bacteria, when it will divide, will copy 100% of it's DNA. And also such bacteria can't respond and adapt to new conditions, otherwise there will be possibility for mutation. So, such organisms will survive only in strict conditions, that's may be good, but also very vulnerable to malfunctions.

Hi m an architect, i have been working in the design of a bio laboratory aimed to study how to colonize outer space, i made an academic document about how a Bryosphere can feed a Biosphere with multiple species, the focus is tolerate our extinction.

Hello Asgardia admins, i wish you could delete this post, thanks.

Link to video and PDF https://comingplanet.com/2016/07/03/post-apocalyptic-architecture/