Orbital Validation of Plastic-Degrading Bacteria for Sustainable Long-Duration Space Missions
- Paper ID
103670
- author
- company
BLUECUBE Aerospace; ; North Carolina State University
- country
United States
- year
2025
- abstract
Microplastic pollution is one of the most pervasive environmental challenges on Earth, accumulating across oceans, soil, and even the food chain. In space, the resource optimization is also vital. To sustain human life crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit will require closed-loop systems to recycle every molecule, including inorganic waste like plastics. The WolfSat-1, a 1U CubeSat by the Wolfpack CubeSat Development Team, was selected as an awardee of Firefly Aerospace’s DREAM 2.0 program to assess the on-orbit viability of Vibrio natriegens. This bacterium expresses enzymes that metabolize Bis(2-Hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) to obtain energy in a carbon deficient environment. The bacteria are provided from North Carolina State University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. The WolfSat-1 payload will utilize a series of light-emitting diodes and photo-resistors to quantify enzymatic digestion of BHET. WolfSat-1 is based on a 1U NearSpace Launch FastBus with an anticipated 2026 launch via Firefly’s Alpha LV.