In situ biological resources: Soluble nutrients and electrolytes in carbonaceous asteroids/meteorites. Implications for astroecology and human space populations

Abstract

Abstract Ecosystems in space will need in-situ bioavailable nutrients. The measured nutrients in meteorites allow experiment-based estimates of nutrients in asteroids, and of the biomass and populations that can be derived from these in situ bioresources. In this respect, we found that carbonaceous chondrite meteorites can support microorganisms and plant cultures, suggesting that similar asteroid materials are also biologically fertile. The sustainable biomass and populations are determined by the available resource materials, their yields of nutrients and biomass, the biomass needed to support human populations, the duration of the ecosystem, and wastage. The bioavailable C, N, and electrolytes in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites vary as CM2>CR2>CV3>CO3>CK4>CK5 in correlation with petrologic type, including aqueous alteration. Their average bioavailable C, N, K and P can yield 2.4, 3.5, 2.5, and 0.08 g biomass/kg resource material, respectively, showing phosphorus as the limiting nutrient. On this basis, soluble nutrients in a 100 km radius, 10 19 kg resource asteroid can sustain an ecosystem of 10 8 kg biomass and a human population of 10,000 for >10 9 years, and its total nutrient contents can sustain a population of one million, by replacing a wastage of 1% of the biomass per year. Overall, the total nutrient contents of the 10 22 kg carbonaceous asteroids can yield a biomass of 10 20 kg that supports a steady-state human population of one billion during the habitable future of the Solar System, contributing a time-integrated biomass of 10 22 kg-years. These astroecology estimates use experimental data on nutrients in asteroids/meteorites to quantify the sustainable biomass and human populations in this and similar solar systems.