It’s official: Potatoes can grow on Mars

Don't worry, Matt Damon; potatoes can officially grow on Mars. In the 2015 sci-fi movie “The Martian,” Damon was abandoned on Mars and forced to grow his own food to keep himself alive while his team from Earth came to his rescue. While that idea may seem outrageous, growing potatoes on Mars is more realistic than we thought.

The International Potato Center (CIP) unveiled research displaying that potatoes can, in fact, grow under atmospheric conditions on Mars. Phase Two of CIP's experiment to grow potatoes in imitated Martian conditions started on February 14, 2016, when a tuber planted a specially constructed CubeSat contained environment built by engineers from the University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC).

Deemed the Potatoes on Mars project, it was adopted by CIP to understand both how potatoes may grow in Mars conditions and to see how they survive in extreme conditions.

“Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment,” said Julio Valdivia-Silva, a research associate with the SETI Institute who has worked at NASA's Ames Research Center (NASA ARC) and now works at UTEC in Lima.

The CubeSat consists of a container holding soil and the tuber underground in a sealed environment. The system delivers nutrient-rich water, controls the temperature for Mars conditions, and replicates air pressure, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels similar to the red planet. There are sensors that consistently monitor the conditions and live-streaming cameras that record the soil waiting for potato-sprouting. Those interested can find live streams of the potato experiment here.

One advantage of potato genetic capacity is the adaptation to extreme environments, and CIP has used that to breed potato clones that can withstand conditions such as soil salinity and drought. In 2016, CIP brought Mars analog soil from the Pampas de La Joya desert in Peru to an experimental station in La Molina, Lima. The team was able to prove that potatoes can grow in dry, salty soil with the addition of fertilized Earth soil for structure and nutrition.

“We have been looking at the very dry soils found in the southern Peruvian desert. These are the most Mars-like soils found on Earth,” said Chris McKay of NASA ARC. “This [research] could have a direct technological benefit on Earth and a direct biological benefit on Earth.”

As for future Mars missions, CIP scientists determined that for potatoes to successfully grow on the red planet, they will need to prepare the soil with a loose structure and nutrients to let tubers acquire enough air and water.

Via CIP