1.  Home
  2. Whitepapers
  3. Plants as Chemical Factories for Supporting Human Exploration in Space

Plants as Chemical Factories for Supporting Human Exploration in Space

Download Whitepaper

Plants as Chemical Factories for Supporting Human Exploration in Space

Download Whitepaper
Plants, as higher eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms, are an ideal host platform for production of recombinant proteins, biochemicals, and biomaterials for deep space exploration due to their minimal resource and infrastructure requirements, genetic programmability, and recyclability of biomass waste. In this white paper we argue that plants can serve a much broader purpose than just for food, nutrition, and general life support in space exploration. Here we describe the different ways in which plants can be used as chemical factories, current state-of-the art approaches in plant molecular farming, and we identify a research campaign to establish plant molecular foundries in space.

Download Whitepaper Now