This is the sort of thing we’re going to have to figure out. But at least we’re building an unaffordable monster rocket.
6 thoughts on “Growing Tomatoes”
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This is the sort of thing we’re going to have to figure out. But at least we’re building an unaffordable monster rocket.
Comments are closed.
They sort of gloss over using “Mars soil simulant.”
Is there a specification, samples, or a provider for less than arm, leg & firstborn somewhere?
Orbitec sells lunar and Martian soil simulant:
http://www.orbitec.com/store/simulant.html
http://www.orbitec.com/store/JSC_Mars_1_Characterization.pdf
http://www.orbitec.com/store/JSC_Mars-1A_Material_Safety_Datasheet.pdf
Nasaspaceflight today says 10 SLS launches for a Phobos mission, 11 for Mars surface.
Makes me wonder if they could pull it off during a launch season considering at max production they can produce 2 a year. I am guessing we don’t have a storage facility to stockpile these or a system in place to launch monthly.
Meh, I’m always skeptical of agricultural experiments using simulant. In most cases the simulant is designed to replicate mechanical and engineering properties of the real soil, with the constituent elements represented at the gross scale only. It’s why trying to grow plants in Lunar regolith simulant is a pointless effort and will never replicate Dr. Wlakinshaw’s results back in the 70s.
At least in the case of Moon soil we do have actual research done back in the post-Apollo era, and the plants seemed to have loved it:
http://www.outofthecradle.net/archives/2008/04/of-a-garden-on-the-moon-part-i/
To be entirely fair, monster rockets are kind of cool.