Expeditions

BioAstra’s expedition program is guided by the XX500 Board, which provides scientific leadership, strategic direction, and oversight for a growing portfolio of expedition-based research.

XX500 (Extremophile Expeditions 500) was founded by John Malone and Jonathan Shafter in 2024 to advance biomedical discovery through terrestrial extremophile expeditions. A viable human future in space will depend on re-engineering biological systems to survive beyond Earth’s protective environment. That vision, articulated by BioAstra co-founder and Chair Chris Mason in his book The Next 500 Years, became the inspiration for XX500. Extremophiles are lifeforms that survive and thrive in environments normally considered hostile to life. We believe that many of the blueprints humanity needs for space adaptation can be found here on Earth where extremophiles have adapted to space-like conditions. These very same adaptations may be the key to healthcare breakthroughs right here on our home planet.

XX500 supports a sequence of field expeditions to environments where extreme adaptation has produced biologically unique populations. Each expedition applies standardized scientific protocols, spanning genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiome profiling, to characterize how organisms survive where most cannot and to identify mechanisms translatable to human health.

Expeditions also collect biological samples from the researchers and field teams working in these environments. Sustained physical exertion and resource-constrained conditions in the field mirror many of the operational stressors astronauts experience in spaceflight. This human data integrates into the HERO platform, expanding the longitudinal dataset of individuals operating at the edge of human tolerance.

Biologic and environmental data collected during each expedition are integrated into the HERO platform, creating a cross-referenced dataset that connects environmental extremophile biology with longitudinal human physiological data. The BioAstra XX500 Board is committed to making any knowledge gained from our expeditions available to the open science community without commercial conditions.

The XX500 Board is responsible for conducting scientifically rigorous expeditions in extreme environments supported by a team of collaborators from the Extreme Microbiome Project, the Colossal Foundation, the Explorers Club, and many others. 

Expedition 1: RMI Bikini Atoll

In summer 2026, our inaugural expedition team travels to Bikini Atoll to study the microbial life that has persisted through decades of radiation exposure. Learn more about Expedition 1.