Growing Spuds on Mars

Canada Free Press ^ | 03/29/17 | Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser

[darth]

I once chatted with one of the Viking Mars Lander engineers and asked him about forward contamination.

He told me that they attempted to sterilize all surfaces before launch, but that there is no way to guarantee that 100% of microbes were removed.

He said that the Russians were pretty careless about such things.

Agreed, Mars has probably been contaminated already.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Lots of water ice out there floating around in space.

But most likely they would just melt the water ice that is already on the planet.

And they would bring the microbes with them. Actually we have no choice about bringing them.

A few packets of the correct microbes, some heat to melt the water ice and some earth worms.

Potatoes.

Now developing a sustainable cycle would be more difficult. A great deal more difficult if not impossible. But if you just want to grow a few plants it is not that hard.

[darth]

Mars HAS water in the permafrost.

My OTHER kid, a geologist, was the first to analyze the photos from the Mars Orbiter and recognize that Mars had glaciers only a few million years ago.

Ironically, when Mars orbit changes over time, it warms up. That is when the permafrost outgases enough water to form glaciers. When Mars gets colder, the glaciers sublime away and the water is again locked up in permafrost.

My son was the FIRST to publish a paper on Martian glaciers, although the MSM did not pick up on it until NASA had a press conference.

[rjsimmon]

If we sent the crabgrass that ALWAYS grows in my lawn, they would inundate the planet in less than a month.

[Cincinatus]

It is very likely that nothing will grow in martian soil. To begin with, the surface of Mars is one of the most sterilizing environments known -- freezing cold, hard radiation from cosmic rays, bathed in solar ultraviolet and having a toxic soil chemistry. There are no organics in the soil measurable at the parts per billion level. The martian soil contains peroxide and perchlorate chemical compounds -- try growing your potatoes in soil laced with Chlorox bleach. (This is not to mention that breathing this toxic dust will soon turn turn the bronchia in your lungs into a bloody foam.)

But I'm not surprised that this BS gets wide press play -- these are also the guys who constantly inform us that the "science is settled" on climate change.

[FatherofFive]

Surviving the winter months would be pretty difficult. And remember, winter there is a lot longer than winter on Earth.

If we start burning fossil fuels, it will start warming up

[Mr. Blond]

I figured shooting rockets full of kudzu at Mars would be the fastest way to terraform it.

[Jim Noble]

Hey, Matt Damon did it...

[darth]

I think you underestimate our resourcefulness.

The perchlorates and peroxides can be treated and removed from the soil. Surely, there is a source for sodium or one of the alkaline metals on Mars.

UV can be filtered out. Our experience in low Earth orbit has shown you can grow veggies in an environment subject to cosmic rays. As for carbon, there is abundant CO2 and some plants will grow in almost any soil.

So, we are talking enclosed habitat/dome with treated soil inside. I guarantee it will be cheaper than shipping in food from Terra.

Once again, I think it is a bad idea. Planetary chauvinism. Our future is using fabricated habitats in free space a la Gerard O’Neill.