Mars or Bust: A Method to Build a Martian Regolith-Based Substrate for Sustainable Agriculture on Mars

Overview

If humans are to settle on Mars, many barriers must be overcome including the need for Martian regolith - based agriculture augmented with minimal fostering materials from Earth. Unfortunately, Martian regolith is inhospitable to life. This study aims to develop an in-situ method using Martian regolith-based substrate to grow plants with dry biomass statistically non-inferior to that of control plants grown in Earth soil. Pre - experimental analysis indicated a variety of regolith augmentation is required to support plant life, including acidification, nitrogen fortification, microbe introduction, humus creation and drainage. Different treatments on simulated Martian regolith MGS-1 were tested, including introduction of varying levels of coco-coir, small amounts of Earth soil, and integration of biomass from previous growth cycles (green manure) into the substrate. Previous research produced reduced plant biomass with mixtures of >50% soil. This study has completed two growth cycles using just 4% Earth soil. After Growth 1 (G1), an ANOVA showed a significant F-stat (p<0.01) and t-tests showed all treatments inferior to control (p<0.01). After G2, significant growth in dry biomass over G1 was achieved; the 50% MGS-1 group +187%; the 60% MGS-1 group +79%. The G2 50% MGS-1 group achieved non-inferiority vs. the control (p=0.36). Therefore, the null is rejected. G3 plants at eight weeks are comparatively more developed than previous cycles and could show non -inferiority for groups with higher levels of MGS-1. This ongoing project is the first to successfully grow plants in MGS -1 substrate non-inferior to Earth-grown crops. Further research is needed.

Competition history

JSHS 2024 Category not listed

Resources

National JSHS abstract book

Related projects

ISEF · 2024