Well, we admit it, we took our time to choose the scientific project that we were going to finance. But it's done! We are very happy to support the Lille startup Bioteos with a donation of €10,000 to help them develop and pursue their approach.
What is Bioteos?
It was 2 Romans who came together with the desire to create a machine, Oxylon, which recycles the air in the metro thanks to the photosynthesis of microalgae. Their solution has been designed to be able to adapt to other public or private interior spaces: station, museum, town hall, office, etc.
How it works ?
Thanks to the impure air sucked in by Oxylon, the algae take on CO2 and absorb the various polluting microparticles. They then begin to release oxygen following photosynthesis triggered by UV present in the machine. This bio-technology makes it possible to treat 700m3 of air every hour.
Microalgae are responsible for 75% of the oxygen on Earth, so Bioteos naturally turned to this solution. These organisms, which have existed for millions of years, have a photosynthetic power 4 times greater than trees. Less space, more efficiency!
The link with space?
We see you coming from here: “Yes, but what is the relationship with space? »
Man is at the dawn of his greatest adventure: to set foot on Martian soil.
Everything leads us to believe that we will see the first men walking on Mars in our lifetime, but to get there, humans still have to meet some challenges! This is where algae come in. NASA has launched research into the cultivation of algae, the Space Algae project, to study their development in space and their behavior under the stress of microgravity. This solution, if research confirms it, could allow us to carry out these long journeys in complete autonomy and even to produce the necessary oxygen once arrived and installed on the red planet.
