The Future of Farming on Mars
Colonizing Mars will mean finding ways to grow food on the Red Planet. Researchers recreate Martian soil, looking for ways to feed future Martian colonies.
Farming on Mars will bring agriculture to new worlds. But, Martian soil isn’t known for growing plants. A new study aims to change that.
By James Maynard
Martian colonies of the future will require vast quantities of food, but bringing an endless stream of foodstuffs from Earth would be costly and dangerous. The best answer to this conundrum is to grow food in greenhouse, specially constructed for that purpose. However, such a system would likely require large quantities of topsoil as a growing medium for the plants (water to supply a hydroponic system would probably be in short supply).
University of Georgia (UGA) researchers developed a series of artificial soil mixtures mimicking the topsoil of Mars. These substitute samples of Martian regolith were composed of mixtures of soil, clay, salts, and other components readily available on the surface of Mars.
Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/the-future-of-farming-on-mars
Laura Fackrell, geochemist at the University of Georgia, joins us on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion November 10, discussing her work on this study.
For more details on space and astronomy news, please visit: thecosmiccompanion.net or thecosmiccompanion.com.
Thanks for watching, listening, and sharing!
- James