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what exactly would you expect them to grow there?
Bassano, 27 January 2009 (Italy) In the International Year of Astronomy, a Group of Owners of Restaurants in Bassano (Italy) they have received in the city of the Brenta river the NASA technicians of the American Aerospace Agency (JPL) responsible of the mission of the space probe Phoenix that in the last year, reached on the Red Planet after a travel of ten months, has confirmed that the Mars soil is adapt to the cultivation of the ASPARAGUS!
“Phoenix Mars Lander”, that in 2008 has confirmed the water presence on the ground of Mars and the similarities between the Martian soil and some terrestrial soils, those in particular apt ones to the cultivation of asparagus.
The NASA delegation in Bassano was guided by Barry Goldstein, Chief of the Phoenix project, and Michael Hecht.
The Phoenix Mission
Phoenix Mars Lander is a developed automatic probe from NASA for the exploration of the Mars planet, with the objective to study the Martian atmosphere/environment in order to verify of the possibility to support life forms microrganism and in order to assess the water presence in the atmosphere. The Phoenix probe is a program developed jointly from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the University of Arizona, under the direction of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA). The probe, after a travel in the space of 10 months, is landed on Mars 25 May 2008 in the northern icecap of the planet, rich ice region, where a soil champion has captured through an arm robot. The first chemical analyzes lead on the Martian soil have revealed the presence of the mineral nourishing of which the plants they have need in order to live: on Mars the conditions for the life exist!
" Lichens aren’t only frugal and robust, they jug out because of their very low sensibility against frost. Some lichens, in an experiment, survived a bath in liquid nitrogen at minus 195 degrees. "
The peculiarity of lichens is that they are not one homogeneous organism but a symbiosis of two different partners, a fungus and an alga. The fungus part supplies the plant with water and nutritious salt, meanwhile the alga part organic substance, like carbohydrate produce. With this ideal "job-sharing", lichens can survive the hardest conditions. Far from the border of highly developed plants, lichens are the pioneers of the vegetation.
Lichens aren’t only frugal and robust, they jug out because of their very low sensibility against frost. Some lichens, in an experiment, survived a bath in liquid nitrogen at minus 195 degrees.
While Mars was likely a more hospitable place in its wetter, warmer past, the Red Planet may still be capable of supporting microbial life today, some scientists say.
Ongoing research in Mars-like places such as Antarctica and Chile's Atacama Desert shows that microbes can eke out a living in extremely cold and dry environments, several researchers stressed at "The Present-Day Habitability of Mars" conference held here at the University of California Los Angeles this month.
And not all parts of the Red Planet's surface may be arid currently — at least not all the time. Evidence is building that liquid water might flow seasonally at some Martian sites, potentially providing a haven for life as we know it.
"We certainly can't rule out the possibility that it's habitable today," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for the HiRise camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
Originally posted by intrptr
Maybe if they put a little glass dome over the spot. Like a terrarium of sorts? That way the water might not evaporate and the sun would warm the interior enough to melt the water ice during the day?
Then what would happen?
Originally posted by hisshadow
So we drilled this perfect hole on mars, and have pictures of it...
and at no time does the rover drop a seed into the hole, a drop of water and cover it back up i dont know
EPIC FAIL
I say don't drop anything on the planet. Leave it alone, do your experiments and come home.
Originally posted by winofiend
I'm with you doc. We need more plants on mars. By the time we get there we'd have a really big garden.
And we could play on the swings all day smelling roses.
That's my dream, and why isn't nasa doing it !!!!!!!