Space is a hostile environment for all living organisms, with ionizing radiation (IR) being the most detrimental environmental factor by causing direct and indirect damage to critical cellular components. Because long term sustained integrity is crucial for any bio-based system when deployed in space, our idea is to aim for hydrogen production in a radiation hard setup, making use of IR-resistant cyanobacteria (IRRC) and radiation durable materials. Cyanobacteria produce hydrogen via enzymatic H+ combination, deploying hydrogenases or nitrogenases depending on growth conditions and pathway utilization. These organisms can also be grown as biofilms to photoelectrochemically produce hydrogen on the cathode directly from water. Prime candidates for our idea are strains of Croococcidiopsis, Limnospira, and Anabaena known to be highly radiation resistant (D10 > 1,000 Gy) Our team has a strong combined expertise in space research (with ESA), cyanobacterial research, radiation research, photoelectrochemistry, and boron doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. Essentially, BDD is resistant to high levels of radiation. We are involved in the Horizon Europe SUNERGY Flagship Initiative (https://www.sunergy-initiative.eu/) which has important focal points relevant to our interests and our idea. Scheme specific information a) Design of PEC cells fitted with BDD electrodes and cyanobacterial biofilms b) Routes to enhance hydrogen production by IR-resistant cyanobacteria in culture: c) Screening of selected hydrogen producing cyanobacteria for IR tolerance. d) Validation of selected PEC cell configurations for robustness in space in irradiation facilities at SCK CEN or elsewhere https://irradiation-facilities.web.cern.ch/. The funding for the project will be spent towards the salary of a doctoral student, who will be enrolled at Hasselt University and also work at Empa in Switzerland and SCK CEN in Mol.
