Additive Manufacturing with Hypothesized Surface Materials – Microbe Mineral Extraction

INSTITUTION

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

CLASS

Iridium Class (2024 – 2025)

STUDENT TEAM

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In this capstone project, using Psyche’s known and hypothesized environmental and surface conditions, we will be using rocks, metals, and a vacuum system to resemble the expected conditions of Psyche. We will be researching and experimenting which microbes can withstand Psyche’s conditions as well as extract the desired metals. This will allow us to test the chosen microbes with improved metal extraction rates granted via directed evolution.

This work was created in partial fulfillment of the Virginia Commonwealth University Capstone Course “CLSE 402”. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.ssl.berkeley.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.