US space agency NASA is currently considering a new proposal to cover the potential needs of astronauts heading to the Red Planet. It is believed that the agency could develop a technique using synthetic biology to remove toxic perchlorates from ice deposits on Mars, making the water extracted from them suitable for human consumption.
According to a publication in New Atlas, the new technique NASA has proposed to use is called the regenerative perchlorate reduction system. This approach involves synthetic biology used to create genetically modified bacteria that can feed on perchlorates, converting them into oxygen and chlorides.
Although bacteria with this ability are not new, and they naturally occur on Earth, they cannot be sent to Mars. The research team intends to obtain key genes that act as catalysts for the corresponding reaction, and they are supposed to be mixed into strain 168 of Bacillus subtilis, which has been recognised as capable of space travel.
