[rjsimmon]

There is no microbial life in the soil on Mars. NOTHING will grow as it is currently.

[BigEdLB]

Mean green mutha from outer space Mutant earth microbes grew on Mars

[djf]

I have zero doubt potatoes would grow on Mars.

During the summer....

Surviving the winter months would be pretty difficult. And remember, winter there is a lot longer than winter on Earth.

[Pollster1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8L-L2YQyIU

Starting at 15:30, we see the science of potatoes on Mars - one of the few decent movies of the past decade.

[darth]

22 years ago, when my daughter was 8 years old, I helped her run an experiment for her school’s Science Fair.

I was an aerospace engineer and obtained lunar “simulant” soil from a scientist at Johnson Space Center. Then, we formulated asteroid simulant soil based on various scientific papers analyzing what we know of asteroid composition. BTW, we chose carbonaceous chondrite asteroids since those are common in near Earth orbits.

She attempted to grow cabbages in both soil simulants. The results were negative, that is, the cabbages did not grow. The reason, we concluded, was that there was too much salt, primarily sodium chloride, in both soils. Of course, on Earth, most salts have been removed by precipitation.

It was so cool having my 8 year old do original science! No one else had attempted the asteroid soil experiment, although NASA had successfully treated and used REAL lunar soil to grow vegetables after the Apollo landings.

As for Mars, I have no doubt that, with the right soil amendments such as compost, you CAN grow food crops.

As I have said before, however, actually landing people on Mars and forward-contaminating it with Earth organisms is a BAD idea. There IS evidence that Mars has at least microbial life (remember the Allen Hills meteorite?). We should study Mars and it’s indigenous life before we muck it up with Earth microbes.

[Cincinatus]

It is very likely that nothing will grow in martian soil. To begin with, the surface of Mars is one of the most sterilizing environments known -- freezing cold, hard radiation from cosmic rays, bathed in solar ultraviolet and having a toxic soil chemistry. There are no organics in the soil measurable at the parts per billion level. The martian soil contains peroxide and perchlorate chemical compounds -- try growing your potatoes in soil laced with Chlorox bleach. (This is not to mention that breathing this toxic dust will soon turn turn the bronchia in your lungs into a bloody foam.)

But I'm not surprised that this BS gets wide press play -- these are also the guys who constantly inform us that the "science is settled" on climate change.

[Jim Noble]

Hey, Matt Damon did it...