Researchers from the National Research Center of the Kurchatov Institute, in cooperation with specialists from the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, are developing innovative biotechnology.
Scientists have revealed a developed type of algae that is distinguished by its ability to absorb carbon dioxide released by astronauts on the International Space Station, and convert it into necessary oxygen.
At a meeting of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, under the title: “Space as a Source of Scientific Knowledge, Progress and Cooperation,” Mikhail Kovalchuk, head of the Center, addressed this scientific achievement.
Kovalchuk pointed out that this technology currently allows waste to be converted into energy or useful materials, pointing out their success in greatly increasing the effectiveness of the photosynthesis process in algae, so that one cubic meter of algae can absorb the entire amount of carbon dioxide produced by one astronaut, and then convert it into oxygen.
He stressed that research teams are currently working on developing these algae with the aim of using them in life support systems inside spacecraft.
