A new collaborative project between the International Potato Center (CIP) and NASA will see a crop of potatoes grown on Earth under the same conditions found on the Red Planet. The effort is not only a big step towards the goal of one day constructing a controlled farming dome on Mars, but will also demonstrate the potential of growing potatoes in inhospitable environments back home – something that the researchers hope will help tackle world hunger.
If mankind is ever to establish a colony on Mars, it'll first have to work out how to create a sustainable food source. We've seen proposals in the past that aim to test whether crops will grow on the Red Planet, but a lot more work needs to be done before a viable solution emerges.
To prepare for the inevitably tricky endeavor, Peru-based research and development organization CIP is planning on conducting a dry run back home. The team will use soil from the Pampas de La Joya Desert in Peru, which is almost identical to that found on Mars. The researchers will grow the crop in a laboratory environment that mimics the atmospheric conditions of the Red Planet, where the atmosphere is close to 95 percent carbon dioxide.
Quite aside from being a great way to start preparing for the challenges of growing crops on a different planet, the project is also designed to have an impact back home, raising awareness of the impressive resilience of potatoes.
More than 842 million people are currently affected by famine around the globe. The team believes that potatoes' ability to grow in even the most inhospitable of climates makes them the ideal contender to put a real dent in that number. Furthermore, they're not just good at growing under difficult conditions, but also provide extremely high yields (two to four times that of a regular grain crop) and are extremely nutritious, being a good source of iron, zinc, vitamin C, and more.
"How better to learn about climate change than by growing crops on a planet that died two billion years ago?" asks CIP's Joel Ranck. "We need people to understand that if we can grow potatoes in extreme conditions like those on Mars, we can save lives on Earth."
Source: CIP
World hunger....Ahhh.... who cares about solving problems here on earth where we live, that's just to boring. I would rather play with a robot rover on the mars that costs 2 billion.
Potatoes have already prevented world hunger but the potato famine showed how vulnerable they were.
In fact, it is a necessity if you plan to start a colony on Mars, because it is a one-way trip as it is now. You can't completely rely on supply drops from home when it is 56 million kilometres away on its closest distance.
:-)
First, NASA has no idea what Mars' soil is like because no one has ever gone there and returned with any soil to study thoroughly. Even if they did it would be most applicable only to the area collected (and carefully preserved). Yes, analysis from orbit, from Earth, from limited experiments on landers, and form meteorites likely ejected from catastrophic meteor impacts from Mars can give a lot of clues as to what soil is like on the surface of Mars. But it certainly does not tell everything.
What toxins, inhibitory substances or missing substances required for growth exist in the soils (note plural depending upon geographic location) of Mars? To claim either Earth soil endemic to a region or simulated Mars soil (which is available but apparently not part of the grant) is anywhere near what is present on Mars is an exaggeration.
Astronauts will be better served growing food underground, aquaponically avoiding the whole issue of Martian sun availability, greenhouse surface exposure and Martian soil issues. Fish embryos can be frozen until needed. LED lighting.
The other issue is the 9 month journey there and what to grow in zero gravity.
Peru has over a dozen varieties, uses intelligent farming practices, and has had no problem for thousands of years.