Potatoes may grow on Mars, shows experiment

The International Potato Center (CIP) conducted a series of experiments to see if potatoes could grow under Mars atmospheric conditions.

Scientists grew potatoes in a CubeSat-contained environment built by engineers from University of Engineering and Technology in Lima.

“Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment”, said Julio Valdivia-Silva, an ARC research associate. The scientists put the soil and the tuber in the container and placed it to the hermetically sealed CubeSat, which is a small satellite used in space research on February 14, 2017.

The interior of the Peruvian CubeSat satellite was created to mimic Martian conditions as closely as possible, with a thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere and little oxygen.

The initial results of the experiment are said to be promising, with the potatoes sprouting up through the soil and appearing surprisingly healthy. Amoros noted that the results of their experiment suggest that their efforts to breed potato varieties in such harsh conditions were not in vain.

A project attempting to grow potatoes in Mars-like conditions has reported positive preliminary results. “They’ve known for a while that crops can grow in Martian soil”, Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian, tells Engadget.

The centre will now continue experimenting with different kinds of potatoes to determine which ones grow best under the challenging conditions, with the study playing a vital role in the future colonisation of the Red Planet. The potatoes planted in CubeSat were genetically bred to tolerate extreme conditions, such as drought and high salinity.

Now, the CIP has released video footage showing that the team has indeed grown potatoes using this Mars-like soil.

However, I am quite sure that much more research needs to be done before we can conclusively say that whatever plants that are grown on Martian soil is safe for consumption in the long run. The soil also had to be specially prepped with a loose structure to allow the tubers to obtain enough air and water to tuberize. While that represents a decline from previous years, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reports that it sees climate change as a major threat to future progress.

It’s rare that the world’s potato scientists get a chance to weigh in on a pop culture item, since their favorite little tuber rarely plays a role in Game Of Thrones or a superhero movie. These potato varieties allow small farmers to keep growing food, even in areas that are not prime agricultural land (or those that have been affected by climate change).