SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A potato authority is attempting to grow hardy varieties of tubers in Mars-like soil:
The International Potato Center (CIP) launched a series of experiments to discover if potatoes can grow under Mars atmospheric conditions and thereby prove they are also able to grow in extreme climates on Earth. This Phase Two effort of CIP's proof of concept experiment to grow potatoes in simulated Martian conditions began on February 14, 2016 when a tuber was planted in a specially constructed CubeSat contained environment built by engineers from University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima based upon designs and advice provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Ames Research Center (NASA ARC), California. Preliminary results are positive.
[...] The CubeSat houses a container holding soil and the tuber. Inside this hermetically sealed environment the CubeSat delivers nutrient rich water, controls the temperature for Mars day and night conditions and mimics Mars air pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Sensors constantly monitor these conditions and live streaming cameras record the soil in anticipation of the potato sprouting. Live streams of the experiment can be viewed at potatoes.space/mars or by going to the CIP website at www.CIPotato.org.
[...] From the initial experiment, CIP scientists concluded that future Mars missions that hope to grow potatoes will have to prepare soil with a loose structure and nutrients to allow the tubers to obtain enough air and water to allow it to tuberize. "It was a pleasant surprise to see that potatoes we've bred to tolerate abiotic stress were able to produce tubers in this soil," Amoros said. He added that one of the best performing varieties was very salt-tolerant from the CIP breeding program for adaptation to subtropical lowlands with tolerance to abiotic stress that was also recently released as a variety in Bangladesh for cultivation in coastal areas with high soil salinity. Amoros noted that whatever their implications for Mars missions, the experiments have already provided good news about potato's potential for helping people survive in extreme environments on Earth.
CubeSat on the ground? Or a plastic terrarium?
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Friday March 10 2017, @08:03PM (2 children)
So I suppose the real question is, "What minerals are in that terran soil that could be shipped over with the seeds?"
Still, correct in your statements - I suspect your real objection lies with the clickbait nature of the press release. "Please give us more funding!" is what it says to me...
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Friday March 10 2017, @11:57PM (1 child)
It's not mineral, it's microbiological and organic. The only thing that will grow on pure rock is lichen... Pretty much all life on earth is part of an ecosystem that involves other living organisms which have adapted to each other over time. Thinking you can just import a plant and hope it will grow based on mere chemical and physical conditions is naive. Yes this "science" is more about stress testing the potato plant (which can have valid scientific uses) than any real attempt to grow something on Mars. You'd be better of trying to find anaerobic bacteria that would survive on the red planet and started from there, at the beginning. We are nothing on this planet without the bacteria that support us. People think of bacteria as harmful. The vast majority are ESSENTIAL.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Saturday March 11 2017, @09:27AM
I hadn't considered that. Very true.