Bioregenerative ECLSS Using Tardigrades for Biofilm Prevention

Over the lifetime of the ISS, there have been a number of pipes and fittings clogged with hunks of biofilm accumulated in the water reclamation system. This is inconvenient on the ISS, where we're able to replace the parts and send up spares. This problem will increase in severity for long-duration spaceflight, like Martian habitation missions. For long-duration spaceflight, unattended, dormant systems will accumulate biological growth that could cripple water systems. The distances associated with long-duration flights mean that low-mass solutions for water system treatments are essential to mission success. We're interested in utilizing tardigrades (microscopic animals which eat biofilm in the wild) as an adaptive, bioregenerative biocide. Tardigrades are unique for many reasons, but the most interesting is their ability to enter a dormant state, like hibernation, when there are large temperature shifts or unfavorable environmental conditions (like a lack of food/biofilm). They can survive in this state through hard vacuum, cosmic radiation, and cryogenic temperatures, increasing their survivability long-term, which is a common criticism of bioregenerative systems. Theoretically, we could control when they enter dormancy and would be able to activate them when needed. We would like to test them on the ground to see how well they control biofilm using the established biofilm test stand at different starting populations. If successful, we'd like to characterize their dormancy requirements and generate an SOP for turning the colony on and off, if possible. It should take around 6 months. We'll need a test engineer to operate the test stand, time from microbiologists for labwork, sampling, and characterization testing, and $7,000 for consumables, reagents, and cultures.

Tardigrades are microscopic animals that eat biofilm in the wild. They have the potential to function as an adaptive, bioregenerative, low-mass biocide to prevent biofilm growth from clogging pipes on stations, habitats, and long-duration flights.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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