Indian scientists suggest that bacteria could turn lunar soil into urban cities
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Produced by Tarun Mishra
Transporting materials from Earth to the moon remains highly expensive. To minimise these costs, scientists are exploring how local lunar materials, like regolith, could be used to build structures on the moon.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) previously developed a method to create bricks using lunar regolith simulant and the soil bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii. The bacterium converts urea and calcium into calcium carbonate, which, when mixed with guar gum, can bind regolith particles into brick-like shapes.
The same team also experimented with sintering—a process involving heating regolith simulant with a polymer to form stronger bricks. However, sintered bricks are brittle and may crack under the moon’s harsh thermal fluctuations and micrometeorite impacts.
To address the issue of cracking, the team tested a repair method using a slurry composed of Sporosarcina pasteurii, guar gum, and regolith simulant. When applied to damaged bricks, the slurry seeped into the cracks, forming calcium carbonate and bonding the material.
Tests showed that the repaired bricks regained between 28% and 54% of their original compressive strength. Though not fully restored, this partial recovery may help maintain the structural integrity of lunar buildings over time.
Researchers now aim to test the bacteria’s performance in space. A proposal is under way to include Sporosarcina pasteurii in India's upcoming Gaganyaan crewed space mission to observe its behaviour in extraterrestrial conditions.
It is still uncertain how the bacteria will function in space or on the lunar surface. Scientists hope future space experiments will clarify whether the microbes will continue to produce carbonate and perform as expected in non-terrestrial environments. The study was published in Frontiers in Space Technologies on 27 March 2025.