Can we grow potatoes on Mars?

In fact, NASA is currently conducting a research called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen in-situ Resource Utilization Experiment), and has also studied the possibility of planting potatoes in space with the International Potato Centre (IPC, Peru).

Experts selected these potatoes from thousands of candidates and tried planting them in a harsh environment similar to that of Mars. Maybe potatoes will really become the staple food of the colonial base of Mars in the future.

as a planet in the solar system that can be reached by human exploration except the earth, Mars is of special concern to NASA. If planting potatoes on Mars is successful, it will be an important resource for Mars colonization.

1. Why do you want to grow potatoes on Mars?

Since it was sent to Mars in the 196s? Mariner? Space probe, the eighth human landing on Mars in November 218? Insight? NASA has collected a lot of detailed information about the atmosphere, hydrogeology and geographical environment of Mars, laying the foundation for a new round of manned landing on Mars.

in October p>216, former us president Barack Obama announced that the us government is committed to sending humans to mars in 23. President Donald Trump also signed a special bill in March 217 to allocate huge sums of money for NASA's Mars program in the next few fiscal years, and the special fund will increase to more than 15 billion US dollars in 1 years, and put forward the goal of manned landing on Mars in 233.

elon, president of SpaceX, a private American company? Elon Musk has made a grand plan to colonize Mars, and cooperated with NASA to build a colonial base on Mars by 233 with a series of technologies developed by SpaceX.

Therefore, the problem of food self-sufficiency cultivation on Mars has been put on the agenda.

Second, what are the natural conditions of Mars

In p>1976, two NASA spacecraft landed on Mars. See? A desolate and lifeless land. This red planet seems to be a frozen desert bathed in deadly ultraviolet rays.

More detailed data from Mars probes in recent years have further revealed some landforms that look like floods hitting plains and dry lake bottoms, and even the remains of ancient oceans. Obviously, Mars was once warm and humid, no different from our earth. In the distant past, there were probably lush plants there.

The surface of Mars is terrible for any animal and plant life that we are familiar with, which is based on liquid water.

The average temperature of Mars is only-63 degrees Celsius, and there are a lot of water ice at the poles, so it is impossible for the ice to melt. Even if it melts, the liquid will evaporate quickly, because the atmosphere of Mars is only 6/1 of that of the earth. The atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, with less than .4% oxygen. Soil contains perchlorate, which can kill all plants.

Due to the thin atmosphere and weak magnetic field, high-energy solar wind ions and cosmic rays can directly bombard the atmosphere and reach the ground, which will do harm to astronauts on the ground.

Therefore, people can build a small closed colonial base on Mars. In this way, the low atmospheric pressure is not a problem, but oxygen can be extracted from the Martian atmosphere, and water can be obtained from soil (water content is 1.5 ~ 3%), which can be used for drinking and planting potatoes after purification.

The gravity of Mars is only 2/5 of that of the Earth, which makes the construction work much easier. On Mars, people don't even need to adjust their own life rhythm, and implement an 8-hour working system, because the rotation period of Mars is very close to that of the Earth.

third,? MOXIE? With? Life circle 2? Experiment

The first thing that human beings face when colonizing Mars is breathing, and obtaining oxygen is the first priority. At present, NASA cooperates with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop a project? MOXIE? Experiment on in-situ utilization of oxygen resources on Mars. The oxygen produced by this technology can be used for human breathing, and it can also be used for the detector to return to Earth.

NASA claims that? Mars 22? MOXIE tested in the mission is a 1% scale model of the oxidation treatment plant that will support human exploration of Mars in 23. MOXIE is not only a technical demonstration, but also carries out a series of control parameters to explore the performance limit.

NASA plans to send MOXIE with the next generation of rover? Mars 22? The probe was launched this summer and landed on Mars in February 221. The electrochemical method adopted by MOXIE decomposes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars. MOXIE has successfully simulated the experiment of generating oxygen with 99.6% purity at the rate of 22g/hr for 5 Mars days. NASA hopes to clarify whether this method can be scaled up to support people's life on Mars in the future.

back to potato planting. Experts from the International Potato Research Center (IPC) believe that planting potatoes on Mars may be the best choice. As a starchy food, potatoes contain a lot of carbohydrates, and at the same time they are not short of nutrients in vegetables. Potatoes are also relatively easy to grow, and new potatoes can be bred by directly burying potato pieces in the soil.

However, no crop can grow in the open air of Mars, so it is necessary to build a greenhouse suitable for planting and plant potatoes (as well as other crops) in improved soil containing water.

In order to colonize Mars, human beings need to establish a closed colonial base. At the end of last century, a man named? Synergist? Our organization built a large closed base in Arizona, USA, to test the reliability of colonization and farming in outer space.

in industrialist ed ed ed? With the support of bath, the collaborator organization built the famous? Life circle 2? （Biosphere 2）。 This is a fully enclosed ecological experimental base. Life circle 2, including desert, rain forest and other terrestrial ecological types, planted a variety of crops including starch plants. The life circle is completely isolated from the outside world, and oxygen, water circulation and food production are completely completed by the facilities in the circle. In 1991, eight volunteers started a two-year experiment.

In the subsequent experiments, unexpected problems often occur. For example, due to the high indoor temperature and humidity, rainforest plants grow wildly and quickly beat other plants. In the first year, the experimenters failed to grow enough food, which led to their obvious weight loss. Fortunately, in the second year, they produced an extra ton of food before returning to normal weight.

also, the most serious challenge is the lack of oxygen. In Life Circle 2, although a large number of plants have been planted, the oxygen content is not as stable as expected, but gradually decreases because of the complex circulation process of carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis in plants converts carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and releases oxygen.

In addition, carbon dioxide can carbonize with rocks and building concrete, and carbon dioxide combines with calcium in it to form calcium carbonate, which is fixed in rocks, consuming a part of carbon dioxide, but oxygen is not released in the process, and the carbon cycle balance is broken.

At the end of the first phase of the experiment in p>1995, it was considered that the experiment of Life Circle 2 did not reach the original design target. The second phase of the experiment was forced to terminate shortly after it started.

iv. Expectations for the future

From today's point of view, Life Circle 2 is not a complete failure. It really teaches us a lot of knowledge. Colonizing Mars, for example, is crucial to the transformation of the Mars base. First of all, the ecosystem is very complex and changeable, even if the balance is carefully designed, it is easy to be quickly broken under the changes of the big environment (such as temperature). Secondly, the lack of oxygen in Life Circle 2 shows the complex interaction between stratum material and atmosphere, which was previously ignored by people.

Experts believe that the future colonial environment on Mars should not rely on initial fine adjustment, but should have sufficient capacity to maintain dynamic balance and be unaffected by unexpected events. There is a great possibility of success in planting potatoes on Mars, but the diversity of planting species should be considered, so that the ecological cycle system in the colonial base can reach a dynamic balance.

If SpaceX really wants to establish a colonial base on Mars eventually, the balance experiment of plant species diversity in its large-scale life support system should be placed as important as the spacecraft design.