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Mars Soil Appears To Be Able To Sustain Life
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Jun 26, 2008 05:58 PM
from the expensive-way-to-replenish-topsoil dept.
from the expensive-way-to-replenish-topsoil dept.
beckerist writes "Scientists working on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which has already found ice on the planet, said preliminary analysis by the lander's instruments on a sample of soil scooped up by the spacecraft's robotic arm had shown it to be much more alkaline than expected. Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator for the wet chemistry laboratory on Phoenix, told journalists: 'It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us.'"
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Growing Asparagus on Mars... (Score:5, Funny)
It would probably lead to a very smelly planet.
Re:Growing Asparagus on Mars... (Score:5, Funny)
Join the exciting new Mars colony! Wide open spaces! All-you-can-eat asparagus!
Parent
Re:Growing Asparagus on Mars... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
FTA: (Score:5, Funny)
You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us.
And I thought I didn't get out much.
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Funny)
growing weed should be more interesting, over there it's nobody's jurisdiction :)
Parent
not that interesting (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Insightful)
They went to great lengths to avoid contamination of the Mars environment with life from Earth. One of their objectives is to see if there's life on Mars, remember?
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Interesting)
they go to great lengths NOT to bring life to mars. Read up on "bio-barrier". If the spacecraft get contaminated during construction or prep they have to re-sterilize it. They want to find life, not spread it.
If you accidentally bring life to Mars, that makes it about impossible to discover it and know for sure it's Martian life and not something you brought, or that mutated from something you brought.
Although I agree that if we determine there is NO life on mars, I say our next probe is sent with a well-planned variety of "colonizer" lifeforms to begin teraforming of the planet so it's at least borderline useful by the time we can send people out there.
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Funny)
That is, unless somebody's done us the favor of leaving a giant insta-terraforming machine lying around there, in which case we just need to send Ahhnold to staht de reactor.
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, while the soil may very well be conducive to growing asparagus, the temperatures most certainly are not. Asparagus is fairly hardy (depending on the cultivar), relatively speaking; but surviving -70C (or even -70F) is too much to ask of the plant.
I must say this is the first time my knowledge of vegetable gardening has ever come in handy on Slashdot!
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Funny)
Well, that's easy, Monsanto has a patent on growing produce in off-world ecologies. Clearly NASA does not have the budget to pay Monsanto royalties
Parent
Re:FTA: (Score:5, Funny)
I bet they don't read Slashdot though.
Of course not. Slashdot is more interesting than asparagus, though sometimes not as intelligent.
Parent
Martian Red (Score:5, Funny)
Martian pot is what I'm waiting for. I'm sure it would be outta this world.
Re:Martian Red (Score:5, Funny)
Given the gravity differences, an ounce of of pot on Mars would get you *much* higher.
Parent
NEWS FLASH! (Score:5, Funny)
I can see the headlines now in all the papers, when this quote goes mainstream;
TOP SCIENTIST CLAIM MARS SOIL SUPPORTS ASPARAGUS LIKE LIFE FORMS!
Asparagus on Mars (Score:5, Funny)
Just more evidence that Big Asparagus has co-opted our national science agenda.
The Soil, Maybe, But What About the Environment? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The Soil, Maybe, But What About the Environment (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Life on Mars (Score:5, Funny)
Farnsworth: Well, in those days, Mars was just a dreary uninhabitable wasteland. Much like Utah. But unlike Utah, it was eventually made livable.
Re:send seeds (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:AP News Article (Score:5, Informative)
Wait... pH over 7 means a solution is "salty"? Salts are electrically neutral; surely they meant "alkaline" or "basic".
Parent
Re:AP News Article (Score:5, Informative)
umm...pH over 7 means alkaline, not salty.
Parent
Re:AP News Article (Score:5, Interesting)
i.e. We're still missing the magic ingredient: Nitrogen. Getting a sufficient quantity of nitrates to Mars might end up being the biggest problem with colonization efforts in the future. We obviously have water. CO2 can be reprocessed into O2.
The soil is not toxic. Now all we need is Nitrogen and a good method of bootstraping industrial production on Mars. (Shipping heavier technology would be impractical.)
Parent
Re:Life? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Only a 'might'? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the *soil* might be capable of supporting Asparagus, but the seeds might not like the temperature, atmosphere, or ambient radiation.
Parent