this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
192 points (99.0% liked)
Space
8347 readers
53 users here now
Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
Picture of the Day
The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula
Related Communities
π Science
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
π Engineering
π Art and Photography
Other Cool Links
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Yes, I'd think that would be the goal. Long term habitation will need plants of many kinds. Just start listing all the ways people benefit from plants and you'll see the list just goes on and on. At the huge price per kilogram of launched mass, making soil out of local materials and developing closed-loop systems just makes economic sense. Soil is a living thing after all, it doesn't wear out or go away. (Older than dirt!) Learning how to make healthy functioning soil from native regolith is an important part of the whole in-situ resource utilization push from the major space agencies.
Exactly.
We already do a lot of research on earth to maintain and improve soils, such basic things as turning under a winter crop which is used as a fixative, making that soil healthier.
Seems like it could work with regolith (as in these tests) - turn each plant generation back into the regolith, composting it, eventually it becomes soil with everything being retained.
It'll be really interesting to see the plant growth and soil improvements over the generations of composting (which I assume is part of this testing).
"Older than dirt" lol, yep!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla_event
So I think Azolla (a floating fern that fixes nitrogen) is the way to go to jumpstart an extraterrestrial soil. Itβs insanely productive and makes amazing compost. The wikipedia link is just a cool thing I like to share.