researcher have successfully grown a craw of tomatoes , peas , and daikon harvested in Martian grease — and with those comes an answer to one of the big enquiry we have about how to farm in space .
Since 2014 , researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands , lead by ecologist Wieger Wamelink , have been experiment with develop vegetables in NASA ’s simulate soilfrom Mars and the Moon . They had some former success with germinating works in both the lunar and Martian soils . But now they ’ve managed something bigger .
tomato , peas , rye , garden skyrocket , radishes and garden cress were all successfully harvest from simulated Moon and Martian grime — and there was also one surprise in that harvest . The vegetables grown in the Martian soil were almost precisely the same size as their Earth counterpart , and there were hardly any differences in total biomass by the harvest appointment , concord to Wamelink .
Of naturally , even with a successful harvest in Martian soil out of the path , there would still be pregnant obstacle to in reality setting up a farm on the surface of Mars . Not only are there are all the technical , budgetary , and timing issues of catch a foreign mission up there , but you also have the problem of set up animation support and a farm . Martian farms would need sportsmanlike source of water , reliable luminousness ( perhaps electrically - driven ) , and big swatches of enclosed infinite , none of which would come easily .
This experiment tells us that solve all those tricky problems is worth that effort . Because , when we do , there is soil up there that could patronage vegetable of similar size to the ones we have on Earth . There ’s also another big query that these fresh Martian vegetables could finally answer for us : How do they taste ? Alas , the whodunit of whether the juiceless , Martian land picks up any surprising flavors remains for a little while longer .
“ We had crops and harvested them , Lycopersicon esculentum , rye grains , radish , garden rocket , cress , but did not try them yet , ” Wamelink told Gizmodo . “ First we have to verify that it is dependable to eat them because of the backbreaking metals that are present in the soils and may end up in the plants . This year ’s experimentation will therefore all about food refuge and nutritional value . ”
However , once they ’ve end up testing great metal content — assuming all spirit adept — Wamelink secern us that the next round of vegetable will get a taste test . For the here and now , though , it ’s still more a question of natural selection than sense of taste .
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