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  • Plants evolved here on Earth, but what if we could take them with us to the stars?

  • Hey gang, Trace here for DNews with your Weekly Space Update. Last year, NASA announced we'd

  • found water on Mars, and that got some people thinking... could future astronauts grow crops

  • in the Martian soil?

  • It's taken us thousands of years to hone farming on Earth; we could plant crops 'til the cows

  • come home but what's good for the Earth goose may not be good for the Martian gander. Soil

  • needs a lot more than water to grow a plant. Soil on Earth contains living and dead organisms

  • including bacteria and plant matter, rocks and minerals, and nutrients like nitrogen

  • -- it takes more than 500 years to form an inch of topsoil on Earth. As far as we know,

  • Mars doesn't have organisms living in its soil to aerate and break down the matter -- so

  • this is a huge challenge. Not all dirt is created equal, there are 70,000 different

  • types of soil in the United States alone!

  • So, to simulate Martian soil we had to gather information about Mars. The Mars Science Laboratory,

  • Curiosity has been doing JUST THAT, when it wasn't joyriding around Mars and snapping

  • selfies, of course. Martian soil contains carbon dioxide, oxygen and sulfur compounds

  • as well as carbonates -- or things that indicate a presence of water. It's about 2% water. NASA gathered soil samples

  • on Mars and then composed an approximation of Martian soil using the volcanic soil of

  • Hawaii. From there, plant ecologist Wieger Wamelink planted 14 plants and grew them over

  • 50 days.

  • Obviously, the plants were given carbon dioxide, oxygen and water, but it's not just the obvious

  • resources. The seeds of a plant can sustain growth for a while, that's what they're for

  • -- to help the plant gain a foothold. According to PhysOrg, Wamelink expected the plants to

  • germinate and then die due to a lack of nutrients. The researchers were surprised to find the

  • plants did quite well, using the phosphorus and iron oxides to take root.

  • Unfortunately, the fact the plants grew in a difficult soil environment is only one small

  • part of the puzzle. The lower gravity and temperature of Mars will make it difficult

  • for water to be pulled into the soil, and tougher for plants to evaporate their excess

  • moisture. Plus, the sun is much farther away, so any Martian plants will need extra light.

  • They're thinking LEDs at the moment, but no one is quite sure.

  • The moon is much closer, only a few days away. So, to Newt Gingrich's delight, the moon will

  • probably be the location of Earth's first extraterrestrial colony. Wamelink is also

  • trying to grow crops in the moon's soil, called regolith. Because our moon has no atmosphere,

  • the regolith contains mainly meteorite pummeled rock dust, micrometeor debris, rocks and volcanic

  • glass... Not to mention radiation from the unchecked solar wind.

  • It would be HUGE if we can manage to get crops to take root in ANY capacity on another planet.

  • Not only for food, but for oxygen recycling, and to give colonists something to DO all

  • day. It can get pretty boring to sit around in a spacecraft all the time. But that's...

  • another story...

  • And if this doesn't give you the train conductor kick in the head excitement about the future,

  • how about Shots of Awe with Jason Silva? Watch Jason explore technology, space, human nature

  • and love. ... Whoa. What does your gut tell you? Are EARTH plants going to grow on the

  • moon or Mars? Tell us below and subscribe for more DNews! Thanks for tuning in, you

  • guys are the best.

Plants evolved here on Earth, but what if we could take them with us to the stars?

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火星で植物は育つのか? (Can We Grow Plants on Mars?)

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    Jack に公開 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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