Where no microbe has gone before

Mission

Our mission is to engineer microbes for Mars.

Biology is the ultimate green technology, capable of upcycling waste into food, water, and air: all the essentials for human life. However, today it is too unreliable, untested, and wasteful to be a mission-critical technology. That’s why we’re engineering hardy critters that perform gracefully even in the extreme conditions of space. By doing so, we aim to make biomanufacturing ubiquitous, reliable, and green — on Earth and beyond.

We are a nonprofit research organization based in San Francisco, California. We do moonshot marsshot science with an agile, startup-like team.

Contact

The science

Mars is not friendly to life.

It is a desert with extreme UV-C radiation, freezing temperatures, and soil that contains toxic chemicals.

However, organisms on Earth can tolerate each of the extremes of Mars individually:

C. sphaerospermum

C. sphaerospermum is a fungus isolated at Chernobyl. It is tolerant of high radiation doses and may actually absorb energy from radiation!

C. nivalis

C. nivalis is a snow algae that grows on snow, glaciers, and sea ice. It’s freeze-thaw tolerant and capable of growing at extremely low temperatures.

X. elegans

X. elegans is a lichen that succeeds in extreme environments like the Antarctic by growing at a snail’s pace—just 0.5mm/year. So far it has survived 16 days exposed to the vacuum of space.

D. radiodurans

D. radiodurans is a durable bacteria that grows in the presence of perchlorate, a toxin similar to bleach found in Martian soil. Today, it is employed to treat nuclear waste.

Female scientist in a yellow shirt filling tubes in a sunlit laboratory

We’re building a platform to mix and match these properties.

The hardy microbes we cultivate will be the first to thrive in their polyextreme environments.

These new pioneer species can pave the way to greener planets by remediating soil, upcycling waste streams, and making harsh areas more friendly to life.

Why?

Short-term biomanufacturing

Our pioneer microbes will be used for green manufacturing in resource-constrained environments, both on Earth and in space.

Long-term terraforming

The properties of these engineered microbes will answer basic science questions about the limits of life and inform the feasibility, cost, timescale, and approach for someday terraforming Mars.

I want to learn more!

The team

Open Roles

Pioneer will likely hire 4+ new team members before the end of 2024. If you're interested in working with us but don't see your desired role listed, let us know by filling out this form. We'll let you know when relevant roles open up.