Is it possible to grow plants in lunar and Martian soil?
Source:
to Grow on Mars — really.
The Mankind have long been dreaming of colonization of other planets. But let's imagine that a hypothetical mission to Mars took place. The first settlers successfully landed on the surface of the red Planet and build a base. But what to do, when will the stocks brought from Earth? The easiest way out — to cultivate crops. But the suitability of a soil other celestial bodies for that? Such question set scientists from the Netherlands.
How to grow plants on Mars?
According to the magazine , researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands tested whether you can farm beyond Earth. To do this, they tested developed in NASA analogs of lunar and Martian soils. The study was headed by Dr. Viger Wamelink. He and his colleagues sowed in the soil samples of ten different agricultural crops: watercress, arugula, tomatoes, radish, rye, spinach, quinoa, peas, chives and leeks. In addition, these same plants planted in terrestrial soil, which acted as a control.
In the end, nine out of ten sown crops germinate and they can be collected. Moreover, the analysis showed that the plants are quite edible and not much different from «earth». Disappoint only spinach, which in any did not want to grow in «alien» soil. The total number of grown biomass of plants was approximately the same in the terrestrial and Martian soil. The moon in this regard showed slightly worse results. What do you think about this? Tell us about it in our
We were thrilled when we saw that the first tomatoes grown in Martian soil, red steel. This meant that was made a confident step towards developing technologies for sustainable closed agricultural ecosystem. — said Dr. Viger Wamelink.
But that's not all. even gave seeds. In particular, radish, rye, and watercress. These seeds were tested for germination, and they were suitable for further planting and cultivation of crops. Scientists believe that their study — this is an important step towards the creation of sustainable Autonomous colonies beyond Earth who will provide for themselves food independently. Of course, the finding of scientists does not take into account the existence of cosmic radiation and lack of atmosphere. But nobody forbids, roughly speaking, to fly to Mars with seeds and build a greenhouse with maintaining suitable conditions in the internal environment. And the ground can be taken right on the spot.
looks like the soil of Mars. It is due to its color, the planet called «red»
However, on this interesting moments are not over. The fact that earth and Martian soils «made» almost equally speaks not only about the suitability of the surface of the planet to agriculture, but that it is likely on Mars was able to exist plant life.
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