Martian Environment Is Ideally Suited For Crop Farming, Study Says
Mars Farm NASA/KSC Mars Greenhouse Project If we ever decide to colonize Mars, it might be fairly simple to grow crops in that red soil, according to a new study. Mars' reduced gravity could let us use less water and fertilizer than we do on Earth. Visions of future space farms usually involve greenery thriving inside hydroponic systems, but as bio-geo researchers Federico Maggia and Céline Pallud note, using old-fashioned soil has plenty of advantages. Soil-based agriculture can use settlers' waste for fertilizer; it can sequester carbon and produce oxygen; and it's a reliable way to biologically filter water, for instance. The problem is that Mars is not Earth, gravitationally speaking. Gravity affects the rate at which water and nutrients flow through soil, and plants have evolved to these constraints. Martian gravity is about one-third as strong as Earth's, meaning water would flow at a slower rate. This could lead to suffocation...