Soil Fit For Asparagus—on Mars, That Is!
This undated photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey shows researcher Jay Quade in a test pit in Chile’s Atacama desert, where bizarre microbes exist in this extreme climate. NASA’s Phoenix lander is looking for conditions near Mars’ north pole that could support primitive life similar to extreme life on Earth. (AP Photo/U.S. Geological Survey, Julio L. Betancourt)
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The news has hit the media world hard about the soil on Mars considered superb for growing asparagus, recently announced by NASA regarding its Phoenix lander’s latest soil analysis on the red planet. The catcher with all this scuttle? Good soil or not, asparagus on Mars will never have a shot at growth, as strong winds have almost destroyed asparagus on Earth over the years–and we all know about the famous Martian winds! Asparagus growers who fight a losing battle in many agricultural areas will attempt to combat soil loss on the plains when the plants are newly planted, using strip cropping methods to deter the massive winds.
The soil on Mars is now considered the same as in our own Earth backyards, with NASA scientists “flabbergasted” at the recent Mars’s soil results from the Robotic Arm’s sample placed in one of the ovens. “We basically have found what appear to be the requirements of the nutrients to support life, past, present or future,” said Professor Samuel Kounaves of Tufts University, the project’s lead chemist, told reporters in a telephone conference.
The soil requirements found on Mars are less acidity than NASA expected, containing minerals including magnesium, potassium, and sodium with a possibility of other species not yet found in the analysis. If a greenhouse were built strong enough to withstand the Martian weather, plants that do not like acid would grow well—asparagus, turnips, green beans, or even chemical loving bacteria. Meanwhile, the blueberries or strawberries would not fare as well as they are considered acid-loving crops. Unfortunately, no organic carbon has yet been discovered, a necessary building block but traces of water vapor has.
One of the Phoenix mission scientists is known to have said that [Mars] soil “clearly has interacted with water in the past.” Meanwhile, another one jumped up and down when the soil levels were at 8 to 9, instead of the 1 that was expected—not for life survival. The internet is full of the good news is “that the results of both the TEGA and MECA tests have shown our scientists that it’s possible Mars may indeed have hosted, or be hosting, some form of life. ‘Over time I’ve come to the conclusion that the amazing thing about Mars is not that it’s an alien world but that it’s actually very Earth-like,’ Kounaves said.”
(Idea submitted by Jennifer Houser of Ogallala, NE )
This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
