A lot of excitement is circling around the recent tests on
growing biomass in Martian and Lunar soil.
The resultant being mans’ dreams of colonising another planet by
successfully growing crops, may be one step closer. The University and research center of
Wageningen in the Netherlands conducted these tests in their greenhouse,
reporting that tomato, rye, radish, pea, leek, spinach, rocket, watercress, quinoa
and chives fared surprisingly well in the Martian samples. The Moon soil samples delivered about half
the biomass than the samples of the Martian soil as well.
Although this might be one step closer to growing crops in
other types of soil, one has to see it for what it is worth. The ‘Martian soil’ is in fact not from Mars
at all. Neither is the ‘Lunar
soil’. These tests were based on similar
types of soil than its actual counterparts with the ‘Martian soil’ being
simulated by soil obtained from a Hawaiian volcano and the ‘Lunar soil’ from
the Arizona desert. This soil was mixed
with fresh grass-cuttings and well watered before planting the crops. As if there is grass available on Mars and
the moon… hmmm… and what about water…?
The tests were also conducted in a controlled environment under
earths’ atmospheric pressure. Obviously
Mars and our Moon have drastically different atmospheric conditions than
Earth. To not even talk about the
extreme temperatures and radiation experienced in those environments. Another major concern to consider is, even if
one would be able to overcome all these ‘uncalculated’ restrictions, would you
actually be able to eat those vegetables?
Mankind consistently complains about MSG and Genetically modified foods
right here on Earth. Would you eat these
alien vegetables? Would they even be
safe to consume? It is highly doubtful,
as the chemical composition of these soils contain heavy metals such as
arsenic, lead, mercury and other irons.
You would most definitely not last very long on these alien veggies…
As mentioned above, one has to think about the water concept
as well… Although NASA has indicated
they have identified running water on Mars, one has to understand why the
‘water’ is in liquid form. The Northern
Ice cap on Mars is an obvious sign of possible water, but under the extreme
environment of the Martian planet, these liquids are filled with various other
elements unbecoming of fresh water. It
can be more easily described as briny water, filled with hydrated minerals
called perchlorates. These salts are
what prevents shallow areas of liquid from freezing over in Mars’ average of
minus 100°C temperatures. Scientists are
guessing that this briny water might contain magnesium perchlorates, magnesium
chlorate and sodium perchlorates. A long
shot from what we know as fresh water…
This brings us to the conclusion as to why they are actually
spending billions of dollars on trying to establish whether man could live and
survive on other planets. Why not use
the money to better mankind, help struggling economies, hell… why not plant
grass, tomatoes, rye, radish, pea, leek, spinach, rocket, watercress, quinoa
and chives in all our deserts on Earth, to make more space for humanity and
grow more crops? At least we know it
might work and it won’t cost as much as these multibillion dollar space missions.
I for one, would love to visit another planet for the
experience, but colonising barren planets or moons? That is an absurd idea. One mistake and everyone would die...If your
crops fail on another planet who would bring you more food? Help would be months, if not years away.
Who in their right mind would want to live there? Well
you would be surprised. Over 200 000
people applied in 2013 to be part of the first colony to Mars in 2020. These Mars One applicants came from 140
countries across the globe. In order to
qualify for the first team of Astronauts selected, you would have to show
resilience, adaptability, curiosity, ability to trust and be creative and
resourceful. They forgot one
more….crazy!
How they plan on managing this feat, I don’t know, as we have
no clue what to expect and how to be resourceful and self-sufficient outside
our own atmosphere as yet.
Salty water, extreme temperature, radiation, heavy metal
poisoning and a bunch of crazy people all living in tents on Mars. Sounds like fun...
What do you think?
(The views in
this article are not necessarily the views of the writer)
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