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Mars One Ventures AG: Can bacteria survive in Mars soil and thus enhance crop production? - Seite 2

One of the essentials for plant growth are nutrients as nitrogen, phosphorous potassium or calcium. These nutrients will be taken up by plants, resulting in growth. However, this will deplete the nutrient stock in the soil. For this reason, dead plant parts that are not eaten have to be returned to the soil, just like the faeces and urine of the humans. The nutrients in the dead plant parts will not be released to the soil, unless bacteria break down the dead plant material first. They feed from the dead plants, meanwhile releasing the nutrients for the plants. "We have been growing crops on Mars and Moon soil simulant for several years now", Wamelink explains, "and we have demonstrated that it is possible to harvest over a dozen different crops including tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, carrots and radishes. These are important ingredients for a healthy and tasty diet for future Mars settlers. However, the harvest is still less than from crops grown on earth potting soil. This could be due to a lower bacterial activity and this experiment may reveal this."

Bas Lansdorp, CEO and co-founder of Mars One: "For our mission of permanent settlement on Mars, growing food locally is very important. While our astronauts will bring storable food from Earth, they will try to eat as much fresh food that they produce on Mars as possible, increasing their independency from supplies from Earth and increasing the quality of life. Mars One is particularly interested in this research as it could mean an important step towards producing food more efficiently on Mars."

About Dr. ir. Wieger Wamelink

Dr. ir. Wieger Wamelink, a Mars One adviser, is a senior ecologist at Wageningen Environmental Science at Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). He has made significant scientific contributions to the understanding of the possibilities of using Martian soil for food production on Mars, a key component of the Mars One mission.

Wieger Wamelink has over 20 years of experience in experimental, field and modelling ecology after graduating as a plant breeder with speciality of plant physiology. He has (co-) authored more than 150 scientific publications and has appeared in many tv and radio shows and in many newspapers and other media. Wieger Wamelink collaborates with other departments within Wageningen University & Research including the department of Mars One adviser Prof. Dr. Leo Marcelis.