Researchers Grow Plants on Alien Materials

All we have to do is test that the rock samples don't contain any alien bacteria (Somebody would have won a Nobel prize if that were the case) and that there aren't any large amounts of metals like Mercury, Cadmium, Zinc, then we are safe. It would be simple enough to do spectrographs of the materials to determine their exact isotopic composition compared to earth soil with fertiliser.

originally posted by: Indigent
In the 70s in Spain using moon soil samples they grow crops, they grew faster and bigger than in earth soil, i tried to find a link for this but its too old and from a non us country so its as good as lost.

Pretty sure that is a hoax as they are just now planning these experiments.

He will be researching whether or not it is possible to grow plants on the moon.

Will plants survive in Martian soil or moon dust? This question was initially prompted by Dutch plans to establish a colony on Mars.

www.sciencedaily.com... +%28ScienceDaily%3A+Plants+%26+Animals+News%29

a reply to: stormcell
Exactly. Asteroids, the moon and other planets are made up of rock pretty much like any rock. Obviously the exact composition is different but really, rocks are rocks. It's not like they have some special weird and wacky composition. The whole solar system basically formed out of the same big load of material.

Of course it is wise to test soils before growing crops in them but there is no real need to be extra suspicious of ET soil.

originally posted by: Rainbowresidue

I thought this was interesting news. So we know it works with certain vegetables,which means it is possible.
My question is, are they doing research on this because of our planned manned trip to Mars in 2021?
Could it be part of the plan for colonizing Mars?

Yes.

Images of Mars One habitats...

a reply to: JadeStar

Well JadeStar, this is sort of your area of expertise if your sig is anything to go by. What are your thoughts on the potential ramifications of eating plants grown from non Terran soils and materials? Obviously a lot would depend on the compounds in the specific sample being discussed, but I would love to hear your thoughts on it in general. Do you have any concerns about these things?