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Microbes Reveal Missing Link in Space Manufacturing
- Microgravity impairs nutrient uptake in engineered microbes, hindering space-based material production.
- The MELSP project sent melanin-producing E. coli to the ISS to test in microgravity.
- Ground experiments using a Rotating Wall Vessel reinforced that nutrient transport is a key challenge.
- Fungal strains survived spaceflight and continued producing melanin, suggesting alternative biomanufacturing routes.
- Researchers seek bioreactor designs that circulate nutrients to offset gravity absence.
- The MELSP project aims to improve space manufacturing throughput by solving nutrient delivery issues.
- The study links nutrient transport to potential protective biomaterial production in orbit.
- NASA and ASU collaboration corroborated similar nutrient uptake patterns in microgravity.
- Future work may focus on actively circulating growth environments to compensate for gravity.
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