Grow like an asteroid? Scientists have exaggerated

This is probably the craziest idea scientists have They are looking for ways to deal with the problem of nutrition in space. It is known that the planned mission to Mars will last up to two years, including most of the time that astronauts spend in spacecraft flying on Earth to the Red Planet and back. And here comes the problem of food, because some plants have to be grown by the astronauts themselves. It was the scholars who came to help them Suggesting the use of material from meteorites or asteroid fragments that fell to Earth as soil for plants.

In the last issue of the periodical Planetary Science Journal View the amazing results of experiments with growing plants on Meteorites and asteroidsTheir remains were found on the ground. A salad, pepper or radish was grown in this exotic soil like yeast. For the record, let’s add that Algae has also been added to the asteroid soil.o And only this mixture, which is used as an ideal fertilizer, turned out to be ox’s eye.

Scientists were surprised to see that The composition of asteroids corresponds to the most expensive fertilizers used in agriculture. There is nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous, which are ideal soil components for plants. as a place to experience newspace fertilizer“Choose the right place – International Space Station. It turned out that wonderful vegetables grew on the soil on the basis of terrestrial asteroids: Lettuce, radish and pepper.

The results of these trials are encouraging. The authors of the publication in the Planetary Science Journal believe that the discovery of a new use for asteroids could be a breakthrough for future space missions.. If you take Elon Musk’s idea of ​​setting up a colony on Mars seriously, future colonists will need synthetic fertilizers for their farms.

It turns out that it will not need to be removed from Earth, but it is enough to grind meteorites or asteroids located on the Red Planet. And other uses for this discovery? One must forget about the green gardens on the asteroids.