Trees to be grown on Mars

ANNOVIA ^ | FR Post 12-29-04 | Luiz Cruz Kuri

[vannrox]

Trees to be grown on Mars

A new project from Nasa and three Mexican universities will grow trees on Mars.

The Earth Formation in Mars Project will plant a special type of tree on the red planet that grows on the highest mountain of Mexico, Orizaba Peak.

Nacional Autonoma University of Mexico, Veracruzana University, Veracruz University and Nasa have been researching the trees for years.

Because of the high places they grow - with little oxygen and extreme cold - they are thought to be ideal for the project.

Researcher Luiz Cruz Kuri told Clarin newspaper: "Orizaba Peak has the highest line of trees in the world. We can take then to Mars."

[DrDavid]

The real link is http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1219426.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery

[inquest]

Ah. So this is real. (apparently)

[jbwbubba]

This sounds like a joke to me, heck the probes we send now are scrubbed clean of any living thing so we won't screw up an alien planet, its silly to think we would now try and grow trees on mars. Plus the first attempt at any production of life on mars would be algae and tiny forms of life

[freedomfiter2]

with little oxygen

How will my chainsaw run?

[Gunrunner2]

When will the Mars version of "Earth First" object to this violation of the virgin land of Mars?

[WildTurkey]

During the day, they use the energy from sunlight to combine carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen is a byproduct. They burn the carbohydrates with oxygen to produce the energy they need, but in sunlight they produce more than they consume.

At night, the photosynthesis stops but the respiration continues burning the carbohydartes as they use oxygen and produce carbon dioxide.

(Not a correction, just added for clarification)

[DrDavid]

I don't know. Ananova is usually a little bit suspect, but often interesting.

[RightWhale]

They absorb water from the atmosphere like a yoga guru that doesn't eat for 30 years. If somebody just says the word water 50 million miles away it is enough.

[zoobee]

WHY?? What a waste of money.....

[zoobee]

I just REALIZED WHY they are going to do this. They figure in a hundred years or so, there will be no more trees here on earth....population is growing at a fast rate. They will have to be transported from Mars to build things. Companies will be formed...like SPACE TRUCK LINES....or SPACE MOVERS. Buy your stocks now.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I thought there was evidence of frozen water in the Martian soil. A tree (or other vegetation) which can grow in a permafrost environment on earth, might stand a chance on Mars. I think this article is fiction, but I think it's entirely possible that we will introduce plant life to Mars within our lifetimes -- probably something genetically engineered for the task.

[Squawk 8888]

Sounds interesting but I'm pretty skeptical. Planting trees in an environment that lacks liquid water doesn't sound practical- everything I've read about terraforming Mars suggests starting with microbes and waiting anywhere from a few years to a couple of centuries. I think trying to transplant something as big as a tree, or even a houseplant for that matter, is a bit too ambitious given how little we know.

[DoctorMichael]

JMHO: I think its past time to think about "seeding" Mars with organisms that could make the planet habitable.

Algae and other forms of photosynthesizing organisms found in places like Antarctica should be selected and included in any future Martian probes. In addition, engineering of organisms by genetic engineering to beef up particularly important metabolic pathways that would either 1) allow them to adapt to the Martian environment or, 2) to initiate a human-friendly change such as Oxygen-production in the environment, should begin.

[DTA]

>>>>>...or they could turn into horrible alien swamp things that attack us and suck our brains out!!! ;<<<<<

[SQUID]

yeah but not the mexican trees pal....they use either one.

[varon]

or they could turn into horrible alien swamp things that attack us and suck our brains out!!! ;)

Well, at least it would make a good plot for a movie ;-)

[Brett66]

This isn't something some unknown researcher could do. I think it would literaly have to be a policy directive from the whitehouse. Until I hear the NASA admin or the president announce this, I think I'll take it with a grain of salt.

[bedolido]

this is NOT---I repeat NOT April 1st.