Oysters Could Filter Water for Future Moon and Mars Astronauts

Astronauts heading to the Moon or Mars might one day rely on an unexpected crew member: oysters living in special aquariums that naturally clean their water.

Monolith Space and Harrisburg University are building a closed-loop aquarium system designed to grow oysters and other marine life in space. The researchers demonstrated their working prototype in April 2025, showing how baby oysters can grow to adulthood in an automated habitat that could one day fly to the International Space Station.

Jacob Scoccimerra, founder of the Washington D.C.-based company, says oysters have never flown in space before. The ISS once had an aquatic habitat, but it was tiny and only studied small fish until 2012.

The new system is roughly one-third of the way through NASA's readiness levels for spaceflight. That means it still needs testing, but the team is designing it to meet the agency's requirements for launching to the space station and future commercial platforms.

While researchers are still determining all the ways astronauts could use the system, oysters offer a compelling benefit beyond food. These shelled creatures naturally filter water as they feed, potentially recycling precious water supplies during missions lasting months or years.

The project comes as NASA pushes toward permanent lunar bases through its Artemis program and eyes eventual Mars missions. In January, the agency listed "food and nutrition for Mars and sustained lunar" missions as a priority technology development area.

The Ripple Effect

The oyster research fits into a bigger picture of "biogenerative" life support, where living organisms help astronauts survive by providing food, recycling water, and regenerating air. Harrisburg researchers are also studying algae, mollusks, finfish, and hydroponic plants.

These natural systems could make deep space missions more sustainable by reducing the massive amounts of supplies rockets must carry from Earth. Every pound that doesn't need launching saves money and makes longer missions more feasible.

The team plans to start small, launching a compact experiment to the ISS or a similar platform first. From there, they'll expand based on what they learn about how oysters grow and filter in microgravity.

Scoccimerra notes that aquatic biology has historically received less attention in space research compared to studying microbes, humans, and plants. But humans have been eating oysters for 100,000 years, according to archaeological findings from South Africa, making them a proven food source with built-in benefits.

The oysters from the April demonstration now live at Monolith's D.C. office, where the team continues feeding and monitoring them as they refine the habitat design.

Space farming is getting a major upgrade, one shell at a time.