Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, a Delaware-based nonprofit specializing in space exploration and astrobiology research, has been awarded a cooperative agreement valued at $466,209 by NASA's Shared Services Center under contract 24-24NIACPROP-0008 titled "Mycotecture Off Planet: En Route to the Moon and Mars." The award, issued on January 3, 2025, with a completion date of October 2, 2027, supports multiple innovative research initiatives aimed at enabling human exploration of lunar and Martian environments. The contract does not utilize a set-aside designation and is structured as a non-competitive cooperative agreement under NASA's other pricing type arrangement.
The contract encompasses three primary research objectives: developing and testing fungal materials for spacecraft applications with intended use on Starlab and Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions; creating hardware and processes for on-demand pharmaceutical production based on research from the Rothschild Laboratory; and bioengineering bacteria to detoxify perchlorates found in Martian and lunar regolith. All project components include requirements for disseminating findings through presentations, abstracts, written reports, and peer-reviewed publications. Blue Marble Space will conduct this research from its Clayton, Delaware facility, leveraging its established track record of delivering advanced scientific research services to NASA and its demonstrated capability to collaborate with academic and commercial partners on complex space exploration initiatives.