Posted on 03/29/2017 9:48:35 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
Invasive Species, Biological Control, Where do Potatoes come from?
Yours truly has a preference for spuds over rice as the dietary “carb.” So, you may forgive me for being interested in news about this tuber-kind being potentially feeding the future colonists on planet Mars.
Surely now, our venerable Canadian Broadcasting Service (CBC) would not lie! As the report says “The [potato growing] experiment was conducted in soil in the Atacama Desert in Peru, which is most similar to what is found on Mars.”
There is no microbial life in the soil on Mars. NOTHING will grow as it is currently.
Yes there is and WE put it there
The Mars rover’s were probably NOT 100% microbe free.
I am sure that if we “science the shit out of it” we can grow taters there.
That reference was just too easy.
Matt Damon, go to hell!
Erie and beautiful place. You stop and get out of the car and stand there and very shortly the silence makes your ears hurt as they strain to hear something.
They getting much of a bumper crop there?
Point is, without microbes, stuff don't grow.
I have zero doubt potatoes would grow on Mars.
During the summer....
Surviving the winter months would be pretty difficult. And remember, winter there is a lot longer than winter on Earth.
The Mars rover’s were probably NOT 100% microbe free.
Would be interesting to see if (presuming not 100% microbe free) we did leave something, the microbes began to flourish. Don't see as they can without having a food source.
[There is no microbial life in the soil on Mars]
Did you not see “The Martian”??
Matt Damon grows potatoes in his own s—t!!
Aside the fact that it’s a fictional movie, if there is a way for such a fertilzer to be used in the soil, it could be possible, but only if the Martian atmosphere has enough CO2 in it’s atmosphere to feed the plants, and adequate temperatures.
Then again... there’s also that water thing....
I was going to post that this author must have seen that movie and thought it was a revealing dream.
Mars’ atmosphere is mostly CO2, and the partial pressure of CO2 on Marsis nearly 15 times higher than the partial pressure of CO2 on Earth.
So, CO2 is not an issue. H2O, on the other hand, is.
Which is what they are trying to do.
They do have ice caps, don't they?
We need a Johnny Appleseed for Mars. In a few thousand years, we may be able to move there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8L-L2YQyIU
Starting at 15:30, we see the science of potatoes on Mars - one of the few decent movies of the past decade.
Yes, but a bit of distance from the growing regions that would have to be near the equator.
Not saying it couldn’t be done, just expensive.
Yeah, the importation this is what is a logistical impossibility. Transporting water is not feasible in our lifetime. At least, not in sufficient quantities.
Maybe if we found a space-borne iceberg...
But then, NASA would probably name their ship Titanic...
That’s why you have to use astronaut poop....for the microbes.
That is the one consistent thing astronauts do. Or is it “do do”?
22 years ago, when my daughter was 8 years old, I helped her run an experiment for her school’s Science Fair.
I was an aerospace engineer and obtained lunar “simulant” soil from a scientist at Johnson Space Center. Then, we formulated asteroid simulant soil based on various scientific papers analyzing what we know of asteroid composition. BTW, we chose carbonaceous chondrite asteroids since those are common in near Earth orbits.
She attempted to grow cabbages in both soil simulants. The results were negative, that is, the cabbages did not grow. The reason, we concluded, was that there was too much salt, primarily sodium chloride, in both soils. Of course, on Earth, most salts have been removed by precipitation.
It was so cool having my 8 year old do original science! No one else had attempted the asteroid soil experiment, although NASA had successfully treated and used REAL lunar soil to grow vegetables after the Apollo landings.
As for Mars, I have no doubt that, with the right soil amendments such as compost, you CAN grow food crops.
As I have said before, however, actually landing people on Mars and forward-contaminating it with Earth organisms is a BAD idea. There IS evidence that Mars has at least microbial life (remember the Allen Hills meteorite?). We should study Mars and it’s indigenous life before we muck it up with Earth microbes.
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