A synthetic habitat could be built with the help of a self-growing technology that harnesses local resources and microbes to autonomously form structures on the Red Planet. (Credit: Texas A&M University)
- Scientists engineered a self-sustaining system using cyanobacteria and fungi that can grow on Martian soil simulant, air, light, and water to form solid, cement-like materials.
- The microbial partners not only survived in harsh, Mars-like conditions but also outperformed when grown together, with fungi providing structural support and cyanobacteria supplying food through photosynthesis.
- This living construction approach could one day enable 3D-printed buildings on Mars using only local resources, reducing the need to launch heavy building materials from Earth.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — We might not need rockets full of building supplies to start construction on Mars. Scientists have created living communities of bacteria and fungi that could survive in protective habitats on the Red Planet, and turn its dusty soil into solid building materials.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Texas A&M University have successfully used two types of microorganisms to create strong building materials using only Martian soil, air, light, and water. This could eliminate the need to transport heavy building supplies across millions of miles of space, a logistical nightmare that currently costs tens of thousands of dollars for every pound of cargo.
The research, published in the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, revealed a “synthetic community” pairing cyanobacteria, the blue-green organisms that produce oxygen through photosynthesis, with filamentous fungi. Scientists call it an artificial ‘lichen’ because it mimics how lichens work on Earth, with two very different organisms teaming up to survive. In this case, bacteria and fungi join forces to turn Mars’ loose, dusty soil into solid, rock-like material.
Mars presents extreme challenges for human settlement. Temperatures swing wildly from -135°F to 70°F, the atmosphere contains almost no oxygen, and there’s virtually no protection from deadly radiation. Current plans for Mars colonies typically envision shipping prefabricated structures from Earth, an enormously expensive proposition that could be avoided entirely with methods like these.
How This Natural Construction Works
Mars has a harsh environment that humans could not currently survive. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Cyanobacteria act as the community’s food producers, capturing carbon dioxide from Mars’ atmosphere and converting it into organic nutrients that feed the fungi. They also increase carbonate ion concentrations, which helps with mineral formation. Meanwhile, the fungi serve as the builders, attracting metal ions to their cell walls and creating nucleation sites where minerals can crystallize into strong cement-like materials.
Both organisms secrete natural polymers that act like glue, binding the Martian soil particles together. The end result is a self-sustaining system that requires no external carbon or nitrogen sources, just the basic ingredients already found on Mars.
Researchers collected the fungi from some of Earth’s most Mars-like environments: alkaline soils in Pennsylvania’s Nottingham Serpentine Barrens, New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, and Canada’s Rocky Mountains. These harsh locations, with their high pH and nutrient-poor conditions, served as training grounds for organisms that might survive on Mars.
The team tested six different combinations of the cyanobacterium Anabaena with various fungi species, including Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma reesei, and others. Each pairing was grown in laboratory photobioreactors containing MGS-1, currently the most accurate simulation of Martian soil available.
MGS-1 presents a particularly nasty challenge for Earth life: its pH of approximately 9.5 is so alkaline it inhibits most microorganisms’ growth. Yet several of the synthetic communities not only survived but thrived in this hostile environment.
Over 45 days of testing, the research team used three different methods to measure microbial growth and health. They found that organisms in the paired communities consistently outperformed their solo counterparts. Cyanobacteria in the mixed communities grew much faster than those living alone, while fungi showed survival even without supplemented food sources.
The different fungi also produced distinctly different building materials. Trichoderma reesei created prism-like crystals, while Trichoderma viride formed plate-like and rod-like crystals. Penicillium sipitatus produced crystals with gel-like structures, and Aspergillus niger developed extensive mycelial networks better suited for flexible, foam-like materials.
Building on Mars would be expensive, dangerous, and challenging for engineers. (© Artsiom P – stock.adobe.com)
When scientists looked at the liquid around the microbes, they found sugars in the mixed cultures that weren’t there when the bacteria were grown alone. That was a big clue that showed the bacteria were actually making food and sharing it with the fungi, clear proof that the two were working together, not just living side by side.
Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed that the crystals formed were primarily calcium carbonate, the same mineral found in limestone and marble. The organisms were essentially creating biological concrete from scratch.
3D Printing
The research team is now developing their discovery into a practical construction method using 3D printing technology. First, they create a weak gel using natural polymers and calcium ions from Martian soil. The next step is printing structures in a calcium-rich vapor environment for strengthening. Then, they allow the microorganisms to generate permanent mineral bonding over the course of about a month.
This biological construction process could be terminated at any time by killing the microorganisms with heat or radiation, giving human colonists complete control over when buildings are finished.
Existing Challenges for Red Planet Construction
The only problem is that the microorganisms can’t survive directly on Mars’ surface, where atmospheric pressure is less than 1% of Earth’s and temperatures plummet far below what any Earth life can tolerate. They would need to operate inside protective photobioreactors that provide appropriate atmospheric conditions.
Another issue is that the study used only simulant materials, not actual Martian soil. Real Martian regolith is more chemically diverse and complex than any simulation can perfectly capture. Mars’s reduced gravity, about 38% of Earth’s, might also affect how the process works, though this has not been confirmed.
Still, the research is an amazing step forward for how we might approach construction on other planets. Rather than hauling building supplies across the solar system, future Mars colonists could potentially pack a few vials of hardy microorganisms and let biology do the heavy lifting.
This aligns with NASA’s broader strategy of in-situ resource utilization, which involves using materials found at the destination rather than shipping everything from home. The space agency is already funding research into similar biological construction methods, including a project called “Myco-Architecture off Planet” that explores using fungal networks alone for building.
Modern research is constantly pushing humanity inches closer to becoming a multi-planetary species. Solutions like these engineered living materials could make life on other worlds not just possible, but sustainable.
Researchers collected alkaline-tolerant fungi from harsh environments in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Canada that mimic Martian conditions. They paired these fungi with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria to create synthetic communities, then tested six different combinations in laboratory photobioreactors containing MGS-1 Martian soil simulant. The communities were grown under four different conditions (with and without supplemental carbon and nitrogen sources) for 45 days. Scientists measured microbial growth using three methods: resazurin assay for total living cells, fungal plating for fungal counts, and phycocyanin autofluorescence for cyanobacterial counts. They also used scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to analyze the crystals produced.
Six stable partnerships between Anabaena cyanobacteria and different fungal species successfully grew using only Martian soil simulant, air, light, and inorganic liquid medium without additional carbon or nitrogen. The paired communities consistently outperformed organisms grown alone, with cyanobacteria showing much faster growth rates in partnerships. Different fungi produced distinct crystal morphologies—some creating prism-like, plate-like, or rod-like calcium carbonate crystals, while others developed gel-like structures or extensive mycelial networks. Benedict’s test confirmed that cyanobacteria were producing reducing sugars for their fungal partners, proving the mutualistic relationship.
The study used Martian soil simulants rather than actual Martian regolith, which may not perfectly replicate the complex chemistry and conditions on Mars. The microorganisms cannot survive directly on Mars’ surface due to low atmospheric pressure (0.7% of Earth’s), extreme temperature fluctuations (-135°F to 70°F), and lack of radiation protection, requiring protective photobioreactor environments. The effects of Mars’ reduced gravity (38% of Earth’s) on biomineralization remain unknown. The research was conducted in controlled laboratory conditions that may not translate directly to Mars’ harsh environment.
Funding and Disclosures
This study was funded by NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program under Grant No. 80NSSC23K0584 and partially funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award program under Grant No. D22AP00154. Erin C. Carr was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology program under Award Number 2209217. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
This study, “Bio-Manufacturing of Engineered Living Materials for Martian Construction: Design of the Synthetic Community,” was published by Nisha Rokaya, Erin C. Carr, Richard A. Wilson, and Congrui Jin in the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering in August 2025 (Volume 147, Article 081008).
