crops

Growing crops on Mars

The soil on Mars does contain the nutrients plants would need to survive on Mars.

Soil, by definition, contains organics; it has held plant life, insects, worms. Mars doesn’t really have soil.

Instead, the Red Planet is covered with regolith: crushed volcanic rock containing nothing organic. But it does contain some toxic chemicals, adding to the complexity of the challenge at hand, the soils of Mars are known to contain toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic and mercury.

The kind of crops that could be grown like Potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat and soybeans would all be good because they provide a lot of carbohydrates, and soybeans are a good source of protein.

Test using simulated Mars soil have been made with successfully with radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes.

Researchers from Wageningen University(Netherlands) grew the same 10 crops - tomato, rye, radish, pea, leek, spinach, garden rocket, cress, quinoa, and chives - in soil that mimicked Mars and Moon soil, the Moon crops were about half as successful as Mars crops, with spinach in particular struggling in the lunar environment.