In-Silico Design of a Synthetic Microbial Pipeline for Perchlorate Bioremediation in Martian Regolith: A Water-Scarce Enzymatic Framework

The ubiquity of toxic perchlorates) at concentrations between 0.5% and 1.0% wt in Martian regolith represents a fundamental barrier to In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and permanent off-world agricultural development. Conventional thermochemical decomposition protocols are thermodynamically inefficient and require excessive thermal energy, while aqueous washing strategies are non-viable due to extreme water scarcity under ambient Martian atmospheric conditions (610 Pa). Here, we present a theoretical in-silico framework for an enzymatic bioremediation pipeline designed for dry regolith processing. Utilizing a engineered microbial consortium centered on dual-stage enzymatic catalysis via perchlorate reductase and chlorite dismutase, the proposed metabolic architecture reduces toxic perchlorate ions into benign chloride and molecular oxygen. By integrating structural neural-network protein modeling with metabolic flux balance analysis, we simulate catalytic efficiency under fractional gravity and cold-adapted enzymatic kinetics. This framework provides an operational biological foundation for converting raw Martian regolith into non-toxic agricultural substrates.