Technologies for creating a fully-fledged habitat in microgravity conditions and on other planets: mycelium, 3D, carbon fiber
The Mycotecture project team at NASA’s Ames Research Center is developing technologies that will enable the “growing” of habitats on the Moon, Mars, and beyond using fungi and the subterranean filaments that make up their main component, known as mycelium. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have successfully tested the next-generation SpaceCAL microgravity 3D printer. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have unveiled ecovoxels—modular, reconfigurable building blocks that can be used for both construction on Earth and for creating living and working spaces in space. As part of the European Space Agency’s First! initiative, CompPair, in collaboration with Com&Sens and CSEM, has developed a new self-controlling and self-healing carbon fiber composite material.
The largest living organism on Earth is the mycelium of the honey fungus, its age is more than 2.5 thousand years
The honey mushroom is recognized as the largest living organism in the world. Or rather, not he himself, but his mycelium, which amazes even experienced mushroom pickers and biologists with its parameters. This giant creature grows in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon (USA). Its territory covers about 1,000 hectares; about 1,600 football fields could fit on it. The weight of the mycelium Humongous Fungus subspecies Armillaria ostoyae exceeds 600 tons, and its age is more than 2500 years.