Biomanufacturing PLA for Surface System In-Space Construction

In support of STMD domains Live and Expand; this project will create a method to biomanufacture polylactic acid (PLA) using wastewater to support STMD efforts for 3D printing habitats on the Moon and Cislunar and Mars. The Fermentation Membrane BioReactor (FMBR) was developed to biomanufacture chemicals through DARPA’s B-SURE program. Leveraging the FMBR with NASA's needs in mind; this project will feed nutrient-rich permeate water recycled from MCO's bioregenerative Anaerobic PhotoMembrane BioReactor (APMBR) wastewater treatment system to lactic acid (LA) producing microbes. LA will be polymerized into PLA using COTS polymerization approaches. Follow-on projects will use PLA to 3D print regolith habitation structures and replacement parts in the GMRO Lab.

This project aims to pioneer a method for space-based biomanufacturing of polylactic acid (PLA) utilizing APMBR permeate and demonstrate the feasibility of producing high-value materials from bioregenerative wastewater-recovered resources. NASA is designing 3D printing regolith structures (STMD lunar architecture development program) that require a polymer binder like PLA in an 80:20 regolith-to-polymer ratio. While terrestrial LA production relies predominantly on industrial microbial carbohydrate fermentation; space-based biomanufacturing faces unique challenges due to the limited availability of feedstock resources that can be generated in situ. Space-based biomanufacturing is in its infancy; with MCO; DARPA; and the 2023 National Academies Decadal Survey both identifying space-based biomanufacturing capabilities as a critical shortfall to NASA’s strategic plan. This project will develop PLA space-based biomanufacturing using in situ recycled resources. This project will also serve as a template for future space-based microbial fermentation manufacturing processes; potentially extending to the production of high-value products such as acetic acid; citric acid; and ethanol. Once achieved; PLA would be used in future STMD projects that will be combined with regolith in the GMRO to 3D print habitats.

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