Space & Astronomy

NASA planning to grow plants on Mars by 2021

By T.K. Randall
May 10, 2014

Image: Curiosity Rover
Credit: (PD) NASA/JPL-Caltech via Wikimedia Commons The plants will be contained within a special sealed box along with soil, air and a regular sprinkling of water to help them grow over the course of a couple of weeks. The experiment would be a first step towards the future colonization of the planet.

"In order to do a long-term, sustainable base on Mars, you would want to be able to establish that plants can at least grow on Mars," said investigator Heather Smith. "This would be the first step in that... we just send the seeds there and watch them grow."It is still unknown how the conditions on Mars, including exposure from radiation, will affect the chances that plants can grow there, even when contained within a sealed Earth-like environment. If the plants do manage to survive however then it will be good news for future missions.

"It also would be the first multicellular organism to grow, live and die on another planet," said Smith.

Source: Discovery News

Tags: Mars, Rover