'Space Veggies' being grown at Dutch university

                Establishing a human colony on the Moon and travelling to Mars had been the stuff of dreams since the dawn of the space age. But, how can humans survive for months or years in the ultra-hostile environment of space? What, for instance, will they eat?

Researchers at a Dutch university are growing vegetables in soil similar to those found on Moon and Mars. When people go to the Moon and Mars they also have to eat, and it’s easiest for them to grow their own food. For the soil, the researchers had to depend on NASA, which makes ground similar to that on the Moon from sand found in an Arizona desert, while Mars’ crimson “soil” is scooped from a volcano in Hawaii. The first experiments started in 2013 researchers received and order of 100 kg of NASA’s imitation “space soil” – at a hefty price of $2,285. Researchers stuck tomatoes, peas, cress and other plants in pots containing the simulated soil.

The ground at first did not absorb water, but soon turned out to be good potting soil. In the Martian soil, plants were growing fast. They even started to flower. However, Martian and lunar soil, including NASA’s own imitation, may contain heavy metals, which may be deadly for humans. The soil can be purified by growing other plant species such as violets which absorb the poisons. However, the experiment has a drawback – it is being conducted in non-sterile conditions on Earth where only the nutrient quality of the soil is being assessed.

Extremely cold temperatures – dropping to minus 62 degrees Celsius on Mars – as well as a lack of oxygen means lunar or Martian vegetables could only be grown in a closed and controlled environment. The facility would have to be pressurized to normal atmospheric conditions on Earth, heated and lit, and protected from cosmic radiation, which damages plant DNA.