NASA plans to start plant development experiment on Mars which is also involved in Mercury's terraforming

ByTom Blackwell

Mars is a planet with conditions that closely resemble the Earth, so farTotal recallYaMartian Battleship NadesicoHumanity who moved to Mars in many SF works has been drawn. Study to ascertain whether it is possible to grow plants on Mars in order to set up places where humans can migrate in the future on such Mars "Mars Plant Experiment(MPX) "is being advanced, it may be that experiments will be carried out on Mars in 2021.

NASA May Put Tiny Greenhouse on Mars in 2021
http://www.space.com/25767-nasa-mars-greenhouse-rover-plant-experiment.html


Currently on Mars unmanned spacecraft "Curio City"Is investigating whether life can exist on Mars in the past or present. It was on August 6, 2012 that this spacecraft got off to Mars, and by the investigation of Curio City so far, in the place called Mars Yellowknife BayThere is a possibility that microorganisms were inhabited in the pastIt turned out that it was.

The appearance of the unmanned spacecraft CURIO CITY is like this. This picture is installed in Curio CityMars Hand Lens ImagerCuriosity "self-made" with the camera named "Self-taken", such a large amount of photograph data taken by Curiocity during the Mars surveyNASA's official pageYou can see with.


NASA is proceeding with Mars exploration smoothly in Curio City, but in mid 2020New Mars Exploration PlanIn 2021, a new probe will land on Mars, and one researcher has proposed to place equipment for plant breeding experiments on the spacecraft during the Mars exploration in 2021 , This "plant development experiment on Mars" is MPX.

"This experimentMake Mars a place where humans can liveIt may be helpful to lay the foundation for, "MPX planners say.

Heather Smith who works at Ames Research Center of NASA and MPX Promotion Team to which she belongs, in the search for Mars in 2021, like a gardener the explorer dig a Martian soil with a robot arm, plant seeds of the plant It is said that they are not seeking to do so, "If the experiment on Mars is realized, the experiment will be self-sufficiency, without having to hurry the probe's hands."

In MPX small satelliteCubeSatAttach a casing like that used for the spacecraft to inject the earth's air into this box. In this box we store about 200 species of Arabidopsis thaliana commonly used in scientific experiments together, watering the seeds when the spacecraft carrying the boxes landed on Mars, the experiment will start from here It seems.


"In the 15th we will have a small greenhouse on Mars," Smith explains. Also, although it is a Mars with a relatively high radiation level and low gravity compared with the Earth, it can test by "MPX" how the Earth's life is affected on Mars ". And Mr. Smith and NASA's MPX team confidently commented that "we will send a plant that can easily be maintained even on Mars," confidently commenting and further commenting that "Scientific In addition to observation, Arabidopsis thaliana of MPX will be the first multicellular organism to be born and die from extraterrestrial stars ".

In addition, in the search for Mars in 2021 scheduled for MPX, it is believed that Curiosity of NASA will continue to be used as a spacecraft. The next mission in the next Mars exploration is to find signs that there was life on Mars in the past and take Mars stone and earth samples back to Earth. However, at the stage when NASA is considering the details of Curiosity's mission, for example, what is to be equipped, contents of submissions, etc. are not yet officially decided.

NASA is said to have suggested 58 pieces of equipment to be installed in Curiocity for submission, but finally it is about 10 pieces installed in Curios City from this. This selected equipment and submission will bring various new discoveries to mankind in the exploration in 2021, but will the simplified greenhouse for MPX be installed in Curio City?

ByAmit Patel