Illustration of potential appearance of a closed agricultural ecosystem on Mars.
Credit: Wageningen University and Research Centre
Posted on 12/05/2017 8:37:39 AM PST by BenLurkin
Wieger Wamelink, a biologist at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, is running plant growth experiments in a mixture of NASA-made Martian soil simulants — made from volcanic terrestrial rocks — and pig manure, to which he added live adult worms. University officials said in a statement that the infant worms are the first offspring of adult worms to be born in a Mars soil simulant.
Mars is not a naturally habitable environment for life as we know it, so if humans want to live there long term, Red Planet settlers will have to establish closed ecosystem models. (These are essentially large terrariums where factors like temperature and atmospheric moisture can be controlled.) According to the statement, those ecosystems will ideally utilize available waste materials, including human excrement and dead organic matter. That's where the worms come in.
Worms begin the breakdown of organic matter, which is continued by bacteria. That leads to the release into the soil of such vital plant nutrients as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, according to the statement from Wageningen University and Research.
The researchers also found that the holes that worms dig in the soil aerate the mixture and improve the soil's structure, making it easier for water to penetrate the soil and nourish plants.
I’m underwhelmed with the achievement of growing worms in manure-enriched soil. They didn’t even get actual soil from Mars, just a knockoff.
There’s pig manure on Mars?...........Well at least it’ll be off limits to muzzies................
Kind of reminds me of the old joke about the scientist who told God that we were now so advanced that we could make life out of nothing, just like Him.
"Show me", says God.
The scientist bends down and scoops up some dirt and starts to put it in a beaker.
"Hold on!", says God. "Get your own dirt!."
If you need pig manure to have worms born in Martian soil, then I don't see what you are accomplishing.
Seriously, they just found this out? My parents, grand parents, and their ancestors must now be elevated from simple farmers to future prophets.
True Martian soil is biologically inert. There are no microbes and no possibility of life taking hold. It would take decades to introduce enough fertilizer and microbial life before even the possibility of the first shoot of plant life could be hoped for.
Let’s just launch a rocket full of earthworms, bugs, and various and assorted life from extreme conditions on earth, and send it up to Mars. See what happens.
Yes, but the plan to use pig manure may keep the planet terrorist free.
For those who can “grok” it!
;)
++++++++++++++++++++
Read an article about this a couple of years ago, potatoes would not grow in Martian soil due to sulfur issues. Way to much in solution.
Who knew there would be pig manure on Mars?
Does this imply that Mars is off limits to muslims?
Silly me, I thought worms were hatched not born
Good, but it’s not Mars. Planning to colonize Mars?
Just genetically splice worms with Old Spice and turn Mars into a Dune planet.
caligatrux wrote: “Let’s just launch a rocket full of earthworms, bugs, and various and assorted life from extreme conditions on earth, and send it up to Mars. See what happens.”
You’ll never get all the environmental permits.
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