News
This is a curated resource guide on all topics related to Pioneer Labs, with the aim of educating more people about the topics of terraforming and extremophiles. Check out any of our vetted content below based on your interest.
Featured:
How do you simulate Mars on Earth?
Our CEO Erika Debeneictis sits down with Tom Kalil, CEO of Renaissance Philanthropy, to discuss the challenges of, and recent successes in, simulating Martian environments for biological research.
A Research Roadmap for Assessing the Feasibility of Warming Mars
A roadmap outlining research pathways to determine whether Mars could be warmed with hybrid or non-biological methods
Polymath World: Gene Editing and Terraforming Mars
Our CEO Erika DeBenedictis sits down with Sam McKee of Polymath world to discuss advances in genetic editing tools and their implications on humanities future among the stars.
We were trying to terraform Mars but instead we saved the sea snails
A Mars-terraforming problem (making greenhouse gases via biology) led to us evolving a 40x-better halogenase enzyme, with potential use in antimicrobials and bio-based pigments on Earth.
Defined Mars Media (DMM), a chemically defined simulant of nutrients in Mars regolith for use in biological research
Using data from the Phoenix lander Wet Chemistry Lab (WCL) experiments and terrestrial mineral leaching studies, we designed a defined growth media with the nutrients available to biology on Mars.
BioBloom, a method for barcoded saturation mutagenesis of an entire bacterial genome
Here we introduce BioBloom, a whole-genome barcoded saturation mutagenesis technique which enables massive data collection and rapid identification of beneficial mutations.
How to Export Life to Mars
A new science—applied astrobiology—is taking shape. Our 2025 Green Mars Workshop is featured in The Economist.
An Introduction to Mars Terraforming, 2025
A summary of contemporary techniques for terraforming, prepared for the 2025 Green Mars workshop.
Designer Microbes Aid Space Exploration
Synthetic biology offers a toolkit to engineer microbes capable of surviving in outer space and for biomanufacturing materials to support astronauts on long missions.
This Week in Space
If we're ever to make Mars a second home, we have some serious housekeeping to do... as in a total renovation. A discussion on biotech in space and its many applications, including terraforming.
Universe Today Podcast
Terraforming Mars is usually considered in the realm of science fiction. But we have technology to start doing it in our lifetime.
The Case for Mars Terraforming Research
A Nature Astronomy perspective on why terraforming must be urgently studied.
Planetary Radio
We take you inside the Mars Innovation Workshop, hosted at the SETI Institute’s headquarters and produced by Explore Mars.
Grow Everything Podcast
The Grow Everything podcast featured Erika in a discussion of evolution, automation, and space science.
Renegade Science Podcast
In this episode of Science Renegade, we explore the fascinating world of biomanufacturing for space with Erika Alden DeBenedictis, CEO of Pioneer Labs.
New Space
Pioneer was featured in Story Co's first documentary, New Space.
"Let's Go Do That"
An interview with our CEO on the origins of life and the possibility of terraforming Mars.
Space Synthetic Biology: A Paradigm for Sustainability on Earth and Beyond
Here we present the case that synthetic biology is an enabling technology that will work in synergy with a growing bioeconomy to solve a broad array of challenges facing humans on- and off-Earth.
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Polyextremophile Engineering: A Review of Organisms That Push the Limits of Life
We assess the current art surrounding bioengineering of extremophile microbes, aiming to summarize what is known about their adaptation mechanisms, and compare synthetic biology improvement strategies
Why Nothing Can Grow on Mars*
*probably. An essay on the challenges an organism would face outdoors on Mars.
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2024 Mars Terraforming Workshop Proceedings
We hosted a two-day Green Mars workshop with preeminent astrobiologists, engineers, and space scientists to formulate an up-to-date perspective on the feasibility of terraforming Mars.
