“In fact, some of our gut contents have probably been established by food inputs that gained microbes from the soil in the first place, so I would think this circle of microbial life is possible for inoculating Martian soils. “This is not so far-fetched, as much of our gut content is the ‘same’ as the soil’s,” he said. Herr said Watney’s notion of fertilizing the soil with his feces is more promising – though maybe not even necessary. “I don’t know if we have a good idea of the specific chemistry of the Martian soils, but the chemical conditions would have to be just right – in the ‘ Goldilocks zone’ – to support microbial life and provide nutrients for plants.” There would need to be some carbon in the Martian soils to sustain the microbes’ growth prior to optimal carbon (being released) from the plant root. “And microbes need the soil nutrients, water, and carbon from the plant to survive. “Crop plants need microbes to mobilize nutrients and water from the soil and provide these to the root interface,” Herr said. Though a recent NASA mission found traces of organic carbon in Martian rock samples, much remains unknown about its presence on the planet. One of the primary hurdles, Herr said, would be collecting Martian soil that contains carbon – a building block of all known organisms. “I do think this method is feasible, but there are many hurdles to overcome and many caveats that would need to be satisfied before this would be possible,” said Josh Herr, an assistant professor of plant pathology who works at Nebraska’s Center for Plant Science Innovation. Of course, all the while, I’ll be adding all new manure to the effort.īy cutting his potatoes into quarters and planting them in the new soil, Watney successfully grows 400 potato plants in 10 centimeter-deep soil over the course of several months. After another week, I’ll double it again.
It’ll “infect” the new soil and I’ll have double what I started with. I’ll bring in more lifeless soil from outside and spread some of the live soil over it. Within a week, the Martian soil will be ready for plants to germinate in. They’ll spread out and breed like…well, like a bacterial infection…. He mixes Martian soil with the water, Earth soil and his feces, hypothesizing that the latter two ingredients will turn the Martian soil fertile by encouraging the spread of essential bacteria.Īs Watney says in the novel: There are dozens of species of bacteria living in Earth soil, and they’re critical to plant growth. Watney has a few tools at his disposal: a small amount of soil from Earth, a few potatoes, some water and a sizable pod that simulates the atmospheric conditions of Earth. Soon after realizing he’s alone on the planet, he begins brainstorming how he might grow food that would allow him to survive after his rations run out.
Watney was selected for the manned mission to Mars partly because of his background in botany. Martian soil + Earth soil + Manure + Water = Potato garden? The following contains mild spoilers unrelated to the ending of the book and film. On the eve of the movie’s opening, Husker researchers weighed in on a few of the science, legal and engineering scenarios presented in the story.
The film, which stars Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain, follows astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) as he endeavors to survive being stranded on Mars. The much-publicized announcement coincides with this weekend’s theatrical release of “The Martian,” a film based on the 2011 novel by Andy Weir. 28, NASA revealed the most compelling evidence yet that liquid water flows at least intermittently on the surface of Mars. It’s been a white-hot stretch for the ice-cold Red Planet.