In situ biological resources: Soluble nutrients and electrolytes in carbonaceous asteroids/meteorites. Implications for astroecology and human space populations

• Soluble, bioavailable organic carbon and electrolytes were determined in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.
• Similar nutrients in asteroids offer resources for biology and ecosystems in space settlements.
• Analysis of meteorite nutrients allows experiment-based quantitative estimates of biomass obtainable from asteroid resources.
• In-situ asteroid bioresources can support human populations of billions through the habitable lifetime of the Solar System.

Ecosystems in space will need in-situ bioavailable nutrients. The measured nutrients in meteorites allow experiment-based estimates of nutrients in asteroids, and of the biomass and populations that can be derived from these in situ bioresources. In this respect, we found that carbonaceous chondrite meteorites can support microorganisms and plant cultures, suggesting that similar asteroid materials are also biologically fertile. The sustainable biomass and populations are determined by the available resource materials, their yields of nutrients and biomass, the biomass needed to support human populations, the duration of the ecosystem, and wastage. The bioavailable C, N, and electrolytes in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites vary as CM2>CR2>CV3>CO3>CK4>CK5 in correlation with petrologic type, including aqueous alteration. Their average bioavailable C, N, K and P can yield 2.4, 3.5, 2.5, and 0.08 g biomass/kg resource material, respectively, showing phosphorus as the limiting nutrient. On this basis, soluble nutrients in a 100 km radius, 1019 kg resource asteroid can sustain an ecosystem of 108 kg biomass and a human population of 10,000 for >109 years, and its total nutrient contents can sustain a population of one million, by replacing a wastage of 1% of the biomass per year. Overall, the total nutrient contents of the 1022 kg carbonaceous asteroids can yield a biomass of 1020 kg that supports a steady-state human population of one billion during the habitable future of the Solar System, contributing a time-integrated biomass of 1022 kg-years. These astroecology estimates use experimental data on nutrients in asteroids/meteorites to quantify the sustainable biomass and human populations in this and similar solar systems.