How Synthetic Lichens Could Build Self-Growing Mars Bases

Building With Martian Dust

In the past ten years, the radical progress made by SpaceX (SPCX ) and other private space companies has made a lot of space projects move from science fiction to likely reality during our lifetime.

One of them is the establishment of permanent inhabited bases on the Moon and Mars. The factor here is that the cost to reach orbit and deep space has been divided by 10, making many ideas now practical.

It is likely that, to some extent, the first modules of a base will be similar to Antarctica bases, with a lot of prefabricated systems just dropped on site, or repurposed from recycled materials, like, for example, empty rocket tanks, or digging tunnels.

In the long run, other materials will be needed to move past the initial 10 astronauts and build larger facilities. And even if most of the facilities end up buried, many surface buildings will still be needed.

Ideally, their construction will require the use of local resources for 99% of the construction, with only complex machinery, electronics, or rare metals imported from Earth.

An idea would be to use the local dust, sand, and rocks as building materials to create larger and more radiation-proof habitats. Scientists at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Texas A&M University might have found a way to mix Martian dust and microorganisms to create a biomaterial gluing together the local minerals into a usable structure.

They published their findings in the Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering¹, under the title “Bio-Manufacturing of Engineered Living Materials for Martian Construction: Design of the Synthetic Community”.

How To Build On Mars

When discussing the construction of any kind on Mars, the list of requirements is rather daunting:

• Robust structure to resist the impacts of micrometeorites.
• Airtight walls and joints keep breathable air in and the very thin dust out, despite the very low atmospheric pressure.
• Good thermal isolation, as the average Martian temperature is -65°C/-85°F, and much colder in winter, at night, and/or in the polar regions.
• Durability, as all construction efforts are very expensive, and any failure will require abandoning the habitat.

An option, not only on Mars but also back on Earth, would be to 3D print (additive manufacturing) entire buildings. However, the lack of water, the need for human labor, and the uncertain conditions on Mars make it difficult to be sure the technique would work, at least as it is understood so far.

“Through 3D printing, a wide range of structures can be fabricated, such as buildings, houses, and furniture.”

Bonding Martian regolith particles, including magnesium-based, sulfur-based, and a geopolymer creation. Yet all the methods require significant human assistance and thus are not feasible with the obvious lack of manpower on Mars.

Using Lichens as Building Materials on Mars

On Earth, lichens are among the toughest organisms, able to survive with just a little bit of moisture in the air and the rare nutrients found in floating dust, making them able to survive in the most hostile environments like deserts and the tops of mountains.

They are also extremely radiation resistant, tolerant to desiccation, and overall, the first organism likely to survive Mars, or at least a slightly terraformed Mars.

How lichen achieves this feat is by merging together the toughness of fungi, with the ability to produce food and energy from the sunlight of algae, into one synthetic symbiotic organism.

Source: Ecobiohub

This also makes lichens a good model to imitate for making any sort of biomaterials on Mars, as they can grow in less-than-ideal conditions.

This idea has been explored already, with consideration of bacterial biomineralization to bind sand particles into masonry, ureolytic bacteria to promote the production of calcium carbonate to make bricks, and NASA’s exploration of the use of fungal mycelium as a bonding agent.

However, each of these experiments was limited to a single species or strain; thus, their survivability requires a continuous supply of nutrients, meaning outside intervention is needed. Again, the lack of manpower on Mars makes this challenging.

How Synthetic Lichens Could Enable Martian Construction

The Texas and Nebraska researchers realized that a much more autonomous microbial activity was required for eventual practical applications.

They mixed together several organisms, each complementing the other, the way algae and fungi do in lichens.

“We can build a synthetic community by mimicking natural lichens. “We’ve developed a way to build synthetic lichens to create biomaterials that glue Martian regolith particles into structures.”

Dr. Congrui Grace Jin – Assistant professor in the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology program at Texas A&M University

These synthetic lichens, however, use cyanobacterial cells (red-colored fluorescent cells) instead of algal cells, as these photosynthetic bacteria are even tougher and more independent from external inputs.

Source: Phys.org

The microscopic filamentous fungi create bonding material, gluing together large amounts of biominerals, forming the nucleus from which construction material can be grown.

The cyanobacteria create sugar, oxygen, and energy to feed the fungi while being protected by it.

This is not all. Besides heat, oxygen, and breathable air, the Martian soil is also very poor in nitrogen (nitrate and ammonia), a key component for biomolecules like proteins, DNA, and RNA. These cyanobacteria can also fix atmospheric nitrogen into a biocompatible form.

Source: British Ecological Society

The researchers demonstrated that the system grows with only Martian regolith simulation, air, light, and an inorganic liquid medium like water. In other words, no manpower is needed, and only basic materials present all over Mars are required.

“The potential of this self-growing technology in enabling long-term extraterrestrial exploration and colonization is significant.”

Dr. Congrui Grace Jin – Assistant professor in the Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology program at Texas A&M University

Future of Synthetic Lichens for Mars Habitats

The next step will be to use this artificial lichen to create a regolith ink (3D printing ink made of Martian surface) to print bio-structures using the 3D printing technique of direct ink writing.

Once the regolith ink concept is proven to work with a 3D printer, a larger-scale prototype will be needed as well to engineer the type of building 3D printer required for Martian habitats.

Because the system is growing construction materials by itself using only dust & rock, sunlight, Martian air, and limited amounts of water, it could be used to mass produce regolith ink ahead of astronauts’ landing, and even be used to print the first shelters in advance, using remote robots to perform the 3D printing.

In any case, these Martian missions will need launchers to reach the red planet, and a few companies are leading the charge in developing new reusable rockets.

Investing In the Aerospace Sector

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab (RKLB ) is one of the most serious contenders in the reusable rocket market. The company has initially focused on small rockets, with the Electron launch system (320 kg of payload), which is progressively being turned into a partially reusable rocket. So far, Electron has deployed 177 satellites in 44 launches.

Later on, Rocket Lab is looking at creating a medium-size reusable rocket, the Neutron, comparable to Falcon 9 (8,000 kg to Low-Earth Orbit – LEO – in fully reusable mode, 1,500 kg to Mars or Venus). The Neutron will be powered by a methane-burning rocket engine (like Starship), which seems to be the trend for the next generation of rockets.

Source: Rocket Lab

The company is remarkable for its fully vertically integrated satellite manufacturing process, allowing it to optimize costs and design speed.

This resulted in multiple contracts with NASA & the US government, including a $515M military satellite contract. And a civilian $143m contract for Globalstar.

Rocket Lab is also a major manufacturer of solar panels for satellites after its 2022 acquisitions of SolAero Technologies, with 1000+ satellites powered by these panels, and 4MW solar cells manufactured in total.

Source: Rocket Lab

For now, its launch system is reliant on outside suppliers, but a series of strategic acquisitions should change that, replicating in the launch system the vertical integration already achieved in satellite design and manufacturing.

The company is also looking at the possibility of a telecom LEO constellation to generate recurring revenues. It is also contributing to research for in-space manufacturing with Varda Space Industries and orbital debris inspection.

While SpaceX had Elon Musk’s business talent to develop its technology from scratch, Rocket Lab used a mix of R&D and acquisitions to vertically integrate the technology required. This has proven very successful in satellite manufacturing, and they are now looking to replicate this strategy for reusable rockets.

Considering the existing cash flow from satellite production & the Electron successes, Rocket Lab is a good candidate to catch up with SpaceX’s head start.

For those interested in investing in this company, make sure to take a look at the top stock brokers in your region (e.g. for USA, UK, Canada, and Australia) or our article on the 10 Best Investing Apps, as well as our full report on Rocket Lab.

Latest Rocket Lab (RKLB) Stock News and Developments

Study Referenced:

^{1. Nisha Rokaya, Erin C. Carr, Richard A. Wilson, Congrui Jin. Bio-Manufacturing of Engineered Living Materials for Martian Construction: Design of the Synthetic Community. J. Manuf. Sci. Eng. Aug 2025, 147(8): 081008 (10 pages). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4068792}