Abstract
If humans are going to establish a base on the Moon or on Mars they will have to grow their own crops. An option is to use Lunar and Martian regolith. These regoliths are not available for plant growth experiments, therefore NASA has developed regolith simulants. The major goal of this project was to cultivate and harvest crops on these Mars and Moon simulants. The simulants were mixed with organic matter to mimic the addition of residues from earlier harvests. Ten different crops, garden cress, rocket, tomato, radish, rye, quinoa, spinach, chives, pea and leek were sown in random lines in trays. Nine of the ten species grew well with the exception of spinach. It was possible to harvest edible parts for nine out of ten crops. The total biomass production per tray was highest for the Earth control and Mars soil simulant and differed significantly from Moon soil simulant. The seeds produced by three species were tested for germination (radish, rye and cress). The germination on Moon soil simulant was significantly lower in radish than for the Earth control soil.
References
[1] Baur P.S., Clark R.S., Walkinshaw C.H., Scholes V.E., Uptake and translocation of elements from Apollo 11 lunar material by lettuce seedlings, Phyton, 1974, 32, 133-142Search in Google Scholar
[2] Carlton C.A., Morris R.V., Lindstrom D.J., Lindstrom M.M., Lockwood J.P., JSC Mars-1: a Martian soil simulant, Space, 1998, 98Search in Google Scholar
[3] Chevrier V., Mathe P.E., Mineralogy and evolution of the surface of Mars: A review. Planetary and Space Science, 2007, 55, 289-31410.1016/j.pss.2006.05.039Search in Google Scholar
[4] Clark B.C., Van Hart D.C., The Salts of Mars, Icarus, 1981, 45, 370-37810.1016/0019-1035(81)90041-5Search in Google Scholar
[5] Clark B.C., Geochemical components in Martian soil. Geochimica et Cosmochimica acta, 1993, 57, 4575-458110.1016/0016-7037(93)90183-WSearch in Google Scholar
[6] Cooper M., Douglas G., Perchonok M., Developing the NASA Food System for Long-Duration Missions, Journal of Food Science, 2011, 76, R40-R4810.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01982.xSearch in Google Scholar
[7] Cousins C.R., Cockell C.S., An ESA roadmap for geobiology in space exploration, Acta Astronautica, 2016, 118, 286-29510.1016/j.actaastro.2015.10.022Search in Google Scholar
[8] Dueck T., Kempkes F., Meinen E., Stanghellini C. 2016, Choosing crops for cultivation in space. ICES-2016-206. 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems ICES-2016-206 10-14 July 2016, Vienna, Austria. https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/ttu-ir/bitstream/handle/2346/67596/ICES_2016_206.pdf?sequence=1Search in Google Scholar
[9] Ferl R.J., Paul A.L, Lunar Plant Biology—A Review of the Apollo Era. Astrobiology, 2010, 10, 261-27410.1089/ast.2009.0417Search in Google Scholar
[10] Foley C.N., Economou T., Clayton R.N., Final chemical results from the Mars Pathfinder alpha proton X-ray spectrometer, Journal of Geophysical Research, 2003, 108, 37-1 – 37-2110.1029/2002JE002019Search in Google Scholar
[11] Gibson, E.K., Volatile elements, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, sodium, potassium and rubidium in the lunar regolith, Phys. Chem. Earth., 1977, Vol. X, 57-6210.1016/0079-1946(77)90006-4Search in Google Scholar
[12] Graham T., Bamsey M., Editor’s Note for the topical issue ‘Agriculture in Space’, Open Agriculture, 2016, 1, 68-6810.1515/opag-2016-0009Search in Google Scholar
[13] Hui H., Peslier A.H., Zhang Y., Neal C.R., Water in lunar anorthosites and evidence for a wet early Moon, Nature Geoscience, 2013, 6, 177-18010.1038/ngeo1735Search in Google Scholar
[14] Kozyrovska N.O., Lutvynenko T.L., Korniichuk O.S., Kovalchuk M.V., Voznyuk T.M., Kononuchenko O., Zaetz I., Rogutskyy I.S., Mytrokhyn O.V., Mashkovska S.P., Foing B.H., Kordyum V.A., Growing pioneer plants for a lunar base, Advances in Space Research, 2006, 7, 93-9910.1016/j.asr.2005.03.005Search in Google Scholar
[15] Maggi F., Pallud C., Space agriculture in micro- and hypo-gravity: A comparative study of soil hydraulics and biogeochemistry in a cropping unit on Earth, Mars, the Moon and the space station. Planetary and Space Science, 2010, 58, 1996-200710.1016/j.pss.2010.09.025Search in Google Scholar
[16] Mancinelli R.L., Banin A., Where is the nitrogen on Mars? International Journal of Astrobiology, 2003, 2, 217-22510.1017/S1473550403001599Search in Google Scholar
[17] Meinen E., Dueck T., Kempkes F., Stanghellini C., Growing fresh food on future space missions: Environmental conditions and crop management. Scientia Horticulturae, 2018, 235, 270-27810.1016/j.scienta.2018.03.002Search in Google Scholar
[18] Möhlmann D.T.F., Water in the upper Martian surface at mid- and low-latitudes: Presence, state, and consequences, Icarus, 2004, 168, 318-32310.1016/j.icarus.2003.11.008Search in Google Scholar
[19] Perchonok M., Bourland C., NASA Food Systems: Past, Present, and Future, Nutrition, 2002, 18, 913-92010.1016/S0899-9007(02)00910-3Search in Google Scholar
[20] Rickman D., McLemore C.A., Fikes J., Characterization summary of JSC-1a bulk lunar mare regolith simulant, 2007, http://www.orbitec.com/store/JSC-1AF_Characterization.pdfSearch in Google Scholar
[21] Wamelink G.W.W., Goedhart P.W., Dobben H.F. van, Berendse F., Plant species as predictors of soil pH: replacing expert judgement by measurements, Journal of Vegetation Science, 2005, 16, 461-47010.1111/j.1654-1103.2005.tb02386.xSearch in Google Scholar
[22] Wamelink G.W.W., Frissel J.Y., Krijnen W.H.J., Verwoert M.R., Goedhart P.W., Can Plants Grow on Mars and the Moon: A Growth Experiment on Mars and Moon Soil Simulants, PLoS ONE, 2014, 9(8), e103138. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.010313810.1371/journal.pone.0103138Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central
[23] Zaets I., Burlak O., Rogutskyy I., Vasilenkoa A., Mytrokhyn O., Lukashov D., Foing B., Kozyrovsk N., Bioaugmentation in growing plants for lunar bases, Advances in Space Research, 2011, 47, 1071-107810.1016/j.asr.2010.11.014Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 G.W.W. Wamelink et al., published by De Gruyter
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.
