NASA will try "Mars" to grow potatoes

Hollywood movie "Mars Mission," actor Mediveen plays botanists trying to plant potatoes on Mars, this approach is expected to come true. According to a report in Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po on December 23, NASA and Peru's International Potato Center (CIP) will grow potatoes in a laboratory simulating the Martian environment, with the goal of setting up a planting base on Mars in the future.

It is reported that the project not only prepares for human migration to Mars, but also helps to grow potatoes in extreme environmental areas of the Earth, alleviating the food crisis and saving hundreds of millions of people currently facing the threat of famine.

The lab will use soil from Peru's Pampas de la Jolla Desert, which is said to closely resemble Martian soil. CIP issued a statement saying that the carbon dioxide content of Mars atmosphere is as high as 95%, which is much higher than that of Earth, which helps potatoes grow and produces two to four times the yield of ordinary Earth environment. Planetary scientist John McKay at NASA's Ames Research Center says growing food in space settlements could be a reality.

CIP communications director Frank said simulating food growing on Mars, which was abandoned two billion years ago, is important to understanding how climate change affects food growth.