Experiments Show Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar (With Lots of Help) (science.org)
- Reference: 0181026254
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/17/2314232/experiments-show-potatoes-can-survive-in-lunar-solar-with-lots-of-help
- Source link: https://www.science.org/content/article/can-potatoes-grow-moon
> In [2]The Martian , fictional astronaut Mark Watney survives the wasteland of Mars by growing potatoes in lunar soil -- with a bit of help from human poop. The idea may not be so far-fetched. In a preprint [3]posted this month on bioRxiv, researchers show potatoes [4]can indeed grow in the equivalent of Moon dust , though they need a lot of help from compost found on Earth. To make the discovery, scientists first had to re-create lunar regolith -- the loose, powdery layer that blankets the Moon's surface. To replicate that in the lab, David Handy, a space biologist at Oregon State University (OSU), and his colleagues used a mix of crushed minerals and volcanic ash that matched the chemistry of the Moon.
>
> But lunar regolith is entirely devoid of the organic matter that plants need to grow. "Turning an inorganic, inhospitable bucket of glorified sand into something that can support plant growth is complex," says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida not involved with the work. So Handy and his colleagues added vermicompost -- organic waste from worms -- into the regolith. They found that a mix with 5% compost allowed the potatoes to grow while still emulating the stressful conditions of the lunar environment. After almost 2 months of growth, the team harvested the tubers, freeze-dried them, and ground them up for further testing.
>
> Analysis of the potatoes' DNA showed stress-related genes had been activated. The potatoes also had higher concentrations of copper and zinc than Earth-grown ones, which may make them dangerous for human consumption. The plants' nutritional value, though, was similar to traditional potatoes -- a surprise to the scientists, who expected lower levels of nutrition "because the plants might have been working overtime to overcome certain stressors," Handy says.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~sciencehabit
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_(film)
[3] https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707481v2
[4] https://www.science.org/content/article/can-potatoes-grow-moon
Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar (Score:4, Insightful)
> Experiments Show Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar
I'm not a flat-earther, I'm not a moon hoaxer, but this headline really confused me.
Re: (Score:2)
I would think that the sun's radiation is a bigger problem than the growth medium. Without the protection of an atmosphere, I would expect the potato plant to burn up right before your eyes.
Re: (Score:2)
Artificial light is already used for earth farming in some cases. But, to make use of the summary's "Solar" typo, I wonder if plants could also grow under the 28-day day cycle of the moon. If they could grow on 14 days of continuous light (artificial or not) and 14 days of darkness, then it would be easier to provide light for such a farm, either with natural sunlight, or via PV, without needing batteries or long power transmission cables.
Re: (Score:2)
>> Experiments Show Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar
> I'm not a flat-earther, I'm not a moon hoaxer, but this headline really confused me.
Uh, speaking of confused, the hell is a “moon hoaxer”?
Are there those who think that’s just a huge light bulb? Do the old-timers remember the hard times going to school, dark and bright both ways, long before we installed a dimmer switch on it?
I mean seriously. It’s right there. Hanging in the sky, showing itself in a quite explicable manner given what we knew a century or two ago.
Dare I ask if there are solar skeptics too, looking for the microwave brand name always hiding itself
Re: Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar (Score:3)
Uh, if you've been around here as long as you have and have trouble recalling the many, many idiots espousing the idea that the moon landing was a hoax over the years, it might be time to sign yourself up for biweekly Leqembi shots.
Re: (Score:2)
I think he means Moon Landing Hoaxer .
Although there maybe a subset of Flat-Earthers that believe that the moon is a crescent shaped piece if cheese and we are on a dish sitting on the back of turtles all the way down...
Re: (Score:2)
I always preferred the Terry Pratchett version where the turtle was swimming through space, and they were concerned whether it was a male or female turtle. Think about it.
Re: (Score:2)
I see you've fallen for the myth that the moon is real.
That's just propaganda pushed by Big Regolith.
Re: (Score:2)
> Uh, speaking of confused, the hell is a “moon hoaxer”?
As others have noted, this likely refers to moon landing hoaxers. But there are those that think the moon is artificial.
Hollow Moon on wikipedia: [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Recent movie Moonfall: [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
They're fun theories at least :-)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Moon
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonfall_(film)
Re: Potatoes Can Survive In Lunar Solar (Score:2)
What's really going to confuse you is when you find out they're talking about mars.
Lunar Solar? (Score:2)
Maybe it's lunar soil?
Re:Lunar Solar? (Score:4, Insightful)
> Maybe it's lunar soil?
The summary is night soil and it’s leaking.
Artemis III (Score:2)
Artemis III will be crewed entirely by earthworms, as the necessary stepping stone for establishing human colonies on the Moon. For great justice!
Re: Artemis III (Score:1)
We would still love them
NOT LUNAR SOIL (Score:4, Insightful)
"...They found that a mix with 5% compost ..."
So not lunar soil then. From the article, the "lunar regolith is entirely devoid of the organic matter", so where does this "5% compost" come from? All they need to do is import farm land from earth.
"So Handy and his colleagues added vermicompost -- organic waste from worms -- into the regolith."
They added organic matter to lunar soil that CANNOT be made from materials on the moon.
"...researchers show potatoes can indeed grow in the equivalent of Moon dust, though they need a lot of help from compost found on Earth."
NO THEY DIDN'T. They showed that potatoes do NOT grow in "Moon dust", that imported soil from the Earth is required.
Re: (Score:2)
100% spot on. This is not different from using a non-nutrient base for mechanical stability of the roots like perlite, the rice puff of volcanic glass. All nutrients came from the night soil while supplied gasses allowed for the formation of the plant. The main difference here is some metal contamination that leeched into the plant while providing no nutrients except an overabundance of a few micronutrients
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Is this a case of extreme reading comprehension failure? Here, let me "translate" the summary then:
"Scientists found that we can plant potatoes on the Moon by shipping, with rockets, 1 pound of compost for every 50 pounds of lunar soil we want to use for planting potatoes, and those moon-planted potatoes will be nutritious enough to feed moon colonists. One problem though is that moon-planted potatoes will have more metals than is safe for human consumption, so further research is needed to fix that."
Is tha
Re: (Score:2)
Potatoes are quite nutritious and could be called a super food, given their high content of Vitamin C for instance, which rivals that of many alleged super foods.
This is more a testament to the snake oil that super foods actually are than on the nutritional value of the humble Solanum tuberosum.
Re: (Score:2)
So you replaced the "greater than and equal to" to symbols with "less than" symbols and switch the terms. How clever of you. Have an informative upvote. You've really helped the people who didn't get through grade school.
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
The point is that you only need to bring 5% from Earth, which is important when you are weight and volume constrained. Or to put it another way, using lunar regolith to bulk up the compost, you can increase the area available to grow potatoes by a factor of 20.
Re: (Score:2)
Five percent or one percent it is still not practical. Calculate the weight of a hectare of soil a few centimeters deep and the amount of soil needed to grow food for one person for a year.
Re: (Score:3)
I did the calculations, I think you would need about 35m3 at an absolute minimum.
But that's if you want a year's worth of food, and people won't be there for a whole year, or if they are they will be getting some supplies from Earth.
NOT that it matters. To Marketing. (Score:2)
Do not worry my friend.
If you think THAT is quite the stretch, there will be a lot of narcissists back on Earth dumb enough to buy the new Ultimate compost being sold with “moon dust” contained within, at the price of $10, 000 a pound.
(Keep in mind that “moon dust” is ironically powdered bullshit. Call it the ba dum tiss part of the marketing.)
Re: (Score:2)
> So not lunar soil then. From the article, the "lunar regolith is entirely devoid of the organic matter", so where does this "5% compost" come from?
An asshole.
Re: (Score:2)
It comes from poop. Like, from a butt.
[1]https://www.penny-arcade.com/c... [penny-arcade.com]
[1] https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/07/02/garbage-is-too-kind-a-word
Re:NOT LUNAR SOIL (Score:4, Interesting)
There is a similar, but more informative article about [1]growing Chickpeas on 75% moon soil [sciencedaily.com].
These articles bring up interesting questions about circular farming. What would it take to build a closed ecosystem on the moon that does not require continuously shipping nutrients from earth?
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260312020101.htm
Mars, Moon, Solar, Soil (Score:3)
AI slop feeds into AI, poisons the web and eats real resources. Turn off the servers, it's over.
Re: (Score:2)
It will be a government mandated brain implant in infants before it’s turned off at this point.
Fun Fact (Score:5, Interesting)
Although associated with wholesome soil and gardening, the woodlands of northern North America were devoid of native earthworms after the last ice age. This meant that the woodlands adapted to having thick layers of slowly decomposing detritus (e.g., leaf litter) on the forest floor. Colonizers in the 17th and 18th century introduced European earthworms (along with literal boatloads of non-native plants), with a mix of effects on native species and landscapes. Their deliberate incorporation into farming practices and use as bait by anglers allowed them to spread widely.
So by a certain reckoning, [1]earthworms are an invasive species [wikipedia.org]!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Invasive_earthworms_of_North_America&oldid=1313036274
Re: Fun Fact (Score:4, Informative)
Fun fact, but not entirely true. While Canada and the upper Midwest were devoid of earthworms at the time of European colonization, the Mid-Atlantic, including some of the earliest places the British settled like Virginia and Southeast Pennsylvania, the Southeast, the Southern Midwest, and all of the U.S. Pacific coast all had native worms present.
So the breadbaskets of the original 13 colonies, not to mention all of Spanish North America, were in areas that did have worms.
Now, the invasive European worms did end up outcompeting the native worms, so even in many of the areas that had them, you are more likely to find the European variety today, but there are still areas even in the U.S. where native species predominate
[1]https://www.biorxiv.org/conten... [biorxiv.org]
[1] https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2022/06/29/2022.06.27.497722/F1.large.jpg
Potential dangers (Score:3)
While we haven't studied Martian soil as much as lunar soil, if they are similar, the soil itself can hold health hazards that adding a little compost won't solve.
The soil carries an electrical charge and clings to spacesuits. People (on Earth) who worked inside returned lunar space capsules experienced allergy-like symptoms. I seem to recall that much lunar soil particles have very sharp edges and can affect your lungs.
Not sure what characteristics would be transferred from the Martian soil to a vegetable. How would our bodies react to that?
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_regolith
Re: (Score:2)
Various Mars rovers have taken samples and analysed its composition. Consensus appears that it could be treated to support plant growth but it's filled with perchlorate salts and carcinogenic silicates that would have to be removed.
Re: (Score:3)
The perchlorates are a serious sticking issue. While I continue to be amazed at human ingenuity, the remediation problem for Martian soil seems to be very difficult. Not only that, but the perchlorates are *everywhere*, which means the entire environment is fundamentally poisonous to humans. That doesn't make it impossible, but it raises the bar another notch where we are already potentially dealing with low atmospheric pressure, extremely high CO2 concentration, very low O2 concentration, serious cold,
Re: Potential dangers (Score:3)
I'm not so sure that perchlorates are such an awful sticking point.
(This is not meant to be a post in support of this study, mind. Please do not infer that it is.)
Perchlorates are a 'potentially useful' chemical salt, that form from slow dehydration and UV exposure in an oxygen rich envirionment. They contain a lot of chemically bound oxygen, that is relatively easy to liberate, producing reactive oxygen species when that happens.
Numerous findings of water ice have been made on Mars, which means it can be c
Re: (Score:2)
Saying we'll get oxygen from the 0,5-1% of a poison in martian regolith, rather than bulk ice or CO2, is...
Well, it's take ;)
There is no reason to celebrate the existence of perchlorates on Mars. Also, I have no idea where you got the idea that perchlorates break down in water. Perchlorates are highly stable in water . Unusually stable relative to their high oxidation potential. It takes a lot of activation energy to break the chlorine-oxygen bonds. Which is how perchlorates long-term contaminate aquifer
Re: (Score:2)
I came here to look for this and add it if I didn't find it.
Lunar "soil" is essentially neutral, just needs some additives. Conversely, Martian "soil" is actually poisonous. Additives alone aren't sufficient to get things to grow in it, you need to remove the poisonous parts first.
Net: It's easier to grow plants in lunar rather than Martian "soil".
Re: (Score:2)
> While we haven't studied Martian soil as much as lunar soil
What are you talking about? We've already sent Matt Damon up to test this. He survived for months on potatoes he grew himself on Mars. I saw it in a documentary. /s
But will McD's fries work in space? (Score:1)
But will McD's fries work in space? That is all.
Re: (Score:2)
Hot oil in low gravity sounds like a bad idea.
CowboyNeal would never have approved this (Score:2)
Content has really gone downhill lately.
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing that matters is: Will we argue about whatever it is, producing more pages, and page views.
Content is king and we are producing it.
Re: (Score:2)
Blame the news media, we can only comment on what is out there.
But why? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's good that they do these experiments, as it shows risks regarding heavy metal toxicity.
Vermicompost obviously contains lots of earth microorganisms that live in symbiosis ("living together") with plants here on earth - getting nutrients from plants (mostly carbs produced via photosynthesis, light not being available under the soil) and also supplying nutrients (nitrogen, minerals etc. from inert soil, converted to a bio-available form that plants can utilize) and even water. No surprise here, foodweb is a known concept by now with many people interested in this.
But I don't know that it would be the most practical to ship vermicompost from earth in large and continuing quantities. It might be better to initially ship the earthworms themselves (or at least their eggs) as well as (organic) foodstuffs for the humans there. This could then serve to ramp up a growing population of earthworms on the moon. Should be obvious though that this will be in a sheltered environment, not on the exposed raw lunar surface - like with earth-origin humans and their earth-origin-crop plants. This would be a live ecosystem being constructed from the ground up, protected from a hostile environment - not inert or sterilized materials.
Having a colony of earthworms would allow the setup of a vermiponics system (~"aquaponics" using worm casting nutrients instead of dissolved salts) for growing food plants, using some inert substrate for a physical support structure for the plants - no dependence on a possibly toxic growth medium. Potatoes and other root crops are successfully grown here on earth, together with the customary leaf and fruit crops. After the food has been eaten and the waste passed out again, the worms can come into play again, to convert this back into compost, as has been done successfully here on earth with multiple wet or dry vermicomposting toilet systems.
One drawback with vermicomposting is the amount of time it may take - much less of a problem here on earth if you've got some space and a friendly environment. ( [1]This [vermicompo...oilets.net] is one site I found via websearch that was quite interesting regarding construction, ramp-up and maintenance here on earth, gives some feel of what could be possible.)
Ironic that these little miracle workers considered for the moon are named "earth"worms.
I'm interested how the difference in gravity would influence them.
[1] http://www.vermicompostingtoilets.net/
LUNAR SOLAR (Score:2)
Dude, it is in the freaking title. I understand if the article is off in some way because You have an attention deficit issue... but it is in the title.
Martian vs Lunar; neither works (Score:2)
As fun as the Martian is, and as scientifically accurate it is supposed to be, growing potatoes in Martian soil is one thing that definitely was an artistic liberty. All of the Martian soil we've looked at so far has been highly toxic to humans and plants. Even just physical exposure would be poisonous, to say nothing of trying to grow plants.
Moon soil, near as we can tell, is not toxic in the same chemical way. However it's still incredibly hazardous to human health, in some ways more than Martian soil.
Re: (Score:2)
100%!
With the caveat that I'd not say lunar regolith is"like asbestos". Asbestos is unusually hazardous because it splits mainly along its long axis, so its fibres tend to get thinner and thinner over time (unlike, say, glass or carbon fibre, which tend to split transverse across the fibre). This turns asbestos into tiny needles that make it deep into the lungs, immune cells try to engulf them, fail and die, and then trigger an immune cascade in response. It's also not really the same as classic silicosis
Seems like a wasted effort (Score:2)
They're testing lunar regolith simulant as a bulking agent and seeing if the chemicals that are available from the simulant affect plant growth... except this was done in 1970 to see if the regolith was toxic, and a more advanced experiment done in 2022 by the University of Florida.
So I guess OSU's big announcement is they confirmed the Florida results from four years ago? That's actually still potentially good science if it hasn't already been done, but it's not new, groundbreaking stuff.
Just not ... (Score:2)
... in Ireland.
Re: (Score:2)
I've never read it. Does he have three robot daughters?
Pedantry Alert (Score:2)
How can the poster make such a ridiculous OBVIOUS mistake? Makes the pedantic 90% of my brain seethe. "the loose, powdery layer that blankets the Moon's surface" The lunar soil is NOT "powdery." It sharp and pointy like crystals or shards of glass. To be "powdery" would require some way to grind it (eg water), which the moon has never had. Now it is quite possible, and would be required, to grind the soil before using it to grow plants, but damn it, who with any scientific knowledge does not know thi
Lunar soil (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought he planted potatoes in Martian soil, but I guess I was mistaken.
Re: (Score:2)
Coherence is hard when you rely on AI to write your articles.
Re: Lunar soil (Score:5, Insightful)
All of these (endless) studies are so stupid. Someone buys a "lunar soil simulant" or "martian soil simulant", grows something in it, and writes a paper. But these simulants are *not* the same thing. They're designed to match (very roughly!) in terms of bulk elemental composition and grain size, but not *chemical* composition, nor trace elements, or even grain texture. For example, you're not going to find perchlorates or whatnot in them.
I mean, congrats dude, you've shown you can grow potatoes in Hawaiian volcanic ash. Stop the presses.
And what's even the point? At best you're showing "I took something inorganic and grew plants in it". That's literally the definition of hydroponics. You can grow plants in a pot ground up plastic Elvis dolls -what exactly is the point? The only thing you could prove is what e.g. perchlorates, arsenic, hexavalent chromium, sharp grains, etc do to plants - *but they're not testing that*.
And he's not even testing hydroponics anyway - if you're mixing it with organics, then you're just using volcanic ash as a soil amendment. Your average ancient Roman farmer could have told you that works.
Lastly, the "potato farming" bit of The Martian was mind-bogglingly stupid tripe, even by that book's low standards.
Re: (Score:3)
Plants growing in lunar solar would have been a bigger deal, with a lunar night being about 14 earth days.