Sep 17, 2022 09:00:00

What is 'the first plant to grow on Mars'?

In the movie '

Odyssey ' starring Matt Damon, there is a scene in which a botanist who is left alone on Mars grows potatoes to survive, but it is a difficult task to actually grow plants in the soil of Mars. is. Therefore, researchers at Iowa State University in the United States have published research results examining ``What plants should be grown first on Mars if it is not an emergency such as being left behind?''

Farming on Mars: Treatment of basaltic regolith soil and briny water simulants sustains plant growth | PLOS ONE
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272209

This Is The First Plant We Should Grow on Mars, New Study Finds : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-is-the-first-plant-we-should-grow-on-mars-new-study-finds

Potatoes can be adapted and cultivated in various climates on Earth, making them a potential candidate for farming on Mars. However, Martian sand and dust not only lack organic matter and useful microbes, but are also rich in salts and minerals that are harmful to most plants, making it difficult to grow potatoes on Mars. thing.

The research team said, ``Mars soil is low in nutrients and high in salinity, so it cannot be directly used to grow food crops on Mars. It is imperative that we develop strategies to increase nutrient content in water and desalinate salt water.'

Therefore, the research team cites a plant called `` Alfalfa '' as `` a plant suitable for cultivating on Mars for the first time ''. Alfalfa is a leguminous plant that is used in livestock pasture, pet food, and salads eaten by humans. The research team claims that alfalfa can be cultivated even in the harsh volcanic soil that covers Mars and can also be used as fertilizer for cultivating other crops.

In order to investigate the possibility of cultivating alfalfa, the research team used

basalt to simulate the soil of Mars and conducted experiments to actually grow plants such as alfalfa.

In the picture below, the left side is ``general earth garden soil + fresh water'', and the right side is ``mars-reproduced soil + fresh water'' for alfalfa. Although it grows a little poorly in the soil that reproduces Mars, it can be seen that it is growing without additional fertilizer.

Subsequently, the research team cultivated various plants in `` Mars-reproduced soil + fresh water '' and compared the growth after several weeks with and without the addition of `` alfalfa crushed fertilizer ''. I also did

In the following pictures, A and C are cruciferous

Brassica rapa , D is radish (Raphanus sativus) , and F is lettuce (Lactuca sativa) . is 'Added Alfalfa Fertilizer'. In this experiment, it was confirmed that the addition of alfalfa fertilizer promoted plant growth.

Also, the water that is thought to be available on Mars is not fresh water but

salt water , but the research team desalinated salt water using Agmenellum quadruplicatum, a type of cyanobacteria (cyanobacteria) , and filtered using basalt. We are also considering how to In the following pictures, A is salt water desalinated using bacteria, and B and C are the filtration devices devised by the research team.

Below is an image of A growing Brassica rapa and C growing radish. In each image, the left end is 'fresh water', the middle is 'unfiltered demineralized water', and the right end is 'filtered demineralized water'. . Both Brassica rapa and radish grow better with filtered demineralized water.

In this study, basalt was used to reproduce the Martian soil, but it is unknown how accurately it was able to reproduce the Martian soil, and it is said that it did not contain some harmful chlorides. About. Still, this research can be said to present scientists with the option of 'cultivating alfalfa on Mars and using it as fertilizer.' ``This study means that, for long-term purposes, it is possible to treat soil and water resources locally for agriculture on Mars and maintain permanent settlements on human missions,'' the researchers said. said.