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posted by janrinok on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the wot-no-sprouts? dept.

To simulate a gardening experience on the Red Planet, researchers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Florida Tech Buzz Aldrin Space Institute have begun to experiment with "Martian gardens," using soil from Hawaii similar to the type of soil found on Mars. Martian soil is made up of crushed volcanic rock and contains no organic material, making plant survival significantly more difficult.

To gauge how much soil should be used and which nutrients should be added, researchers grew lettuce in three different types of soil: virtual Martian soil with no nutrients added, virtual Martian soil with nutrients added, and regular potting soil. They reported that the lettuce grown in the Mars-like soil with no nutrients added tasted the same, but had weaker roots and took longer to grow.

Next, they plan to conduct similar experiments with radishes, Swiss chard, kale, Chinese cabbage, snow peas, dwarf peppers and tomatoes.

Potatoes, guys, potatoes.


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  • (Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:36PM

    by ledow (5567) on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:36PM (#412148) Homepage

    Space shuttle payload: 22.7 tonne.

    Topsoil: 1.3 tonnes to the cubic metre

    Each shuttle could only lift off 18 cubic metres, by weight.

    That's enough to put a 5 cm thick layer of soil over a 20m square. A small garden at best, of very thin soil.

    Good luck! You've be looking at dozens, if not hundreds, of space shuttles full of nothing but soil.

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