Abstract EANA2026-34

As the emerging NewSpace economy expands towards commercial space stations, lunar infrastructure, and Mars settlement, establishing economical and autonomous life support systems is essential for reducing dependence on Earth resupply missions. According to Garvin et al., traditional models of resupply from Earth face severe logistical constrictions and unsustainable costs. In 2023, De Micco et al. described that Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS) offer a viable solution to these financial challenges, by allowing closed-loop food production and resource recycling through integrating microbial communities. While Coleine et al. in 2025 highlighted that extremophiles and engineered microbial systems could potentially improve nutrient and water recycling, and plant resilience to space stressors in controlled environments. Aside from their biological functions, these systems have significant macroeconomic implications by reducing launch mass requirements, reducing resupply demands, and also improving operational sustainability. This study explores the economic and operational feasibility of integrating beneficial microbes into space agriculture as a strategic technology for future space exploration missions and emerging NewSpace economy. These microbial biotechnology measures function as risk mitigation tools by improving plant resilience and crop yield predictability. Understanding biological adaptations to extreme environmental conditions demonstrates the development of bioregenerative agricultural systems for future space exploration. This approach also represents an emerging area of astrobiology. Further research in space biotechnology and closed-loop agriculture systems will explore the potential of bioregenerative agriculture systems as a key component of future commercial space infrastructure. Such systems could possibly support the long-term commercial space exploration by increasing sustainability, and reducing operational cost of the growth of the growing space industry.