Have you heard of the International Potato Center (CIP)? Well, NASA has. And they’re currently working alongside CIP researchers to understand how potatoes could be cultivated on Mars through a series of experiments on Earth.
The adventurous folks at Red Bull spoke to Jan Kreuze, CIP’s sub-program science leader for integrated crop and system research, and NASA Ames geobiologist and researcher Julio Valdivia-Silva, about their otherworldly project.
Valdivia-Silva says the partnership between CIP and NASA came about through the organizations’ mutual interest in growing crops under difficult conditions.
“The initiative came from CIP, with the intention of solving problems around cropping in desert areas as a result of climate change and desertification,” Valdivia-Silva says. “Meanwhile, NASA was interested in the project for the need to grow crops in future human colonies outside Earth.”
But why potatoes? Kreuze says this is down to the minimal amount of water potatoes require per pound grown compared to the major cereal crops, as well as their ability to withstand a wide range of environmental conditions, their nutritional value, and their fast-growing, high-yield nature. And, of course, Matt Damon.
Phase 2 of the space gardening experiment began in early 2016, when a tuber was planted in a specially constructed CubeSat contained environment built by engineers from the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima, Peru. Design and guidance for the CubeSat was provided by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.
“The CubeSat was built to control CO2 concentrations and replicate a vacuum in order to replicate the low atmospheric pressure and high CO2content on Mars,” says Kreuze.
The CubeSat houses a container holding soil and the tuber. Inside this airtight environment, the CubeSat delivers nutrient-rich water, controls the temperature in line with day and night conditions on Mars, and mimics Mars’s air pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. Sensors constantly monitor these conditions, and live-streaming cameras are set up to record the soil in anticipation of the potato plant sprouting. In fact, anyone can watch the time-lapse on this Potatoes on Mars website.
Soil used for the experiment was sourced from the Pampas de La Joya desert in southern Peru, home to some of Earth’s most Mars-esque soil.
“The fact that the soil turned out to be so salty was an unexpected challenge,” says Kreuze. “We eventually solved this by first rooting the plants in a tiny plug of organic matter before transplanting into ‘Martian’ soil. Controlling the conditions inside the CubeSat also proved more challenging than anticipated.”
However, the team has done well to overcome, as preliminary results prove promising. In fact, CIP potato breeder Walter Amoros says one of the best-performing varieties was a very salt-tolerant strain able to withstand high levels of environmental stress. Whether or not this crop makes its way to Mars, it is already yielding benefits for Earth’s current inhabitants, having been recently released in Bangladesh for cultivation in coastal areas with high soil salinity.
“The results indicate that our efforts to breed varieties with high potential for strengthening food security in areas that are affected, or will be affected, by climate change are working,” says Amoros.
Next steps?
“Try to find funding,” says Kreuze with a wry smile. “Then for CIP, it’s to try and better understand the genetics and epigenetics of salt tolerance in potato, and how we can use it to generate more stress-tolerant varieties. We might also look at soil amendments or treatments to alleviate salt stress by other means.”
For UTEC, Kreuze says the next step is “improving the CubeSat to better control and simulate the environment present on Mars.”
When are the first Mars colonists likely to chow down on carby goodness à la The Martian? Well, the race is well and truly on. Until then, the team will continue to set its sights closer to home in the quest to feed the world.
Source: Red Bull