Challenging the agricultural viability of martian regolith simulants

Eichler, Anja; Hadland, Nathan; Pickett, David A.; Masaitis, D.; Handy, David; Perez, Andres Dono; Batcheldor, D.; Wheeler, Brooke E.; Palmer, Andrew G.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114022

Cited by 47 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This was done by growing cyanobacteria in small Petri dishes (without agitation) containing 4 ml of water and 0.8 g of MGS-1, an analog of Martian regolith based on the Rocknest windblown soil at Gale crater (Cannon et al, 2019 ). This analog was chosen because of its high fidelity in terms of mineral and chemical properties ( Figure 4 ), and its representing a widespread regolith unit, which make it more relevant to biology experiments than other widely available simulants such as, for instance, JSC Mars-1 and MMS derivatives (Cannon et al, 2019 ; Eichler et al, 2020 ). Contrary to the latter two (Wamelink et al, 2014 ; Guinan, 2018 ), this simulant was shown to be unsupportive of plant growth, even with nutrient supplementation (Eichler et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This analog was chosen because of its high fidelity in terms of mineral and chemical properties ( Figure 4 ), and its representing a widespread regolith unit, which make it more relevant to biology experiments than other widely available simulants such as, for instance, JSC Mars-1 and MMS derivatives (Cannon et al, 2019 ; Eichler et al, 2020 ). Contrary to the latter two (Wamelink et al, 2014 ; Guinan, 2018 ), this simulant was shown to be unsupportive of plant growth, even with nutrient supplementation (Eichler et al, 2020 ). Anabaena sp., on the other hand, could grow in water containing MGS-1, without any nutrient supplementation, under either test atmosphere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars

et al. 2021

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The leading space agencies aim for crewed missions to Mars in the coming decades. Among the associated challenges is the need to provide astronauts with life-support consumables and, for a Mars exploration program to be sustainable, most of those consumables should be generated on site. Research is being done to achieve this using cyanobacteria: fed from Mars's regolith and atmosphere, they would serve as a basis for biological life-support systems that rely on local materials. Efficiency will largely depend on cyanobacteria's behavior under artificial atmospheres: a compromise is needed between conditions that would be desirable from a purely engineering and logistical standpoint (by being close to conditions found on the Martian surface) and conditions that optimize cyanobacterial productivity. To help identify this compromise, we developed a low-pressure photobioreactor, dubbed Atmos, that can provide tightly regulated atmospheric conditions to nine cultivation chambers. We used it to study the effects of a 96% N2, 4% CO2 gas mixture at a total pressure of 100 hPa on Anabaena sp. PCC 7938. We showed that those atmospheric conditions (referred to as MDA-1) can support the vigorous autotrophic, diazotrophic growth of cyanobacteria. We found that MDA-1 did not prevent Anabaena sp. from using an analog of Martian regolith (MGS-1) as a nutrient source. Finally, we demonstrated that cyanobacterial biomass grown under MDA-1 could be used for feeding secondary consumers (here, the heterotrophic bacterium E. coli W). Taken as a whole, our results suggest that a mixture of gases extracted from the Martian atmosphere, brought to approximately one tenth of Earth's pressure at sea level, would be suitable for photobioreactor modules of cyanobacterium-based life-support systems. This finding could greatly enhance the viability of such systems on Mars.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars

et al. 2021

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“…The limitation of the symbiosis to produce reactive nitrogen demonstrates previously studied challenges to the viability of Martian regolith as a in situ resource for agriculture. Chemical stress from Martian regolith has been shown to be extremely detrimental to plants [ 21 ]. The same study showed that without the addition of nutrients, Arapodobsis thaliana died within 10 days of germination [ 21 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil fertility interactions with Sinorhizobium-legume symbiosis in a simulated Martian regolith; effects on nitrogen content and plant health

et al. 2021

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Due to increasing population growth and declining arable land on Earth, astroagriculture will be vital to terraform Martian regolith for settlement. Nodulating plants and their N-fixing symbionts may play a role in increasing Martian soil fertility. On Earth, clover (Melilotus officinalis) forms a symbiotic relationship with the N-fixing bacteria Sinorhizobium meliloti; clover has been previously grown in simulated regolith yet without bacterial inoculation. In this study, we inoculated clover with S. meliloti grown in potting soil and regolith to test the hypothesis that plants grown in regolith can form the same symbiotic associations as in soils and to determine if greater plant biomass occurs in the presence of S. meliloti regardless of growth media. We also examined soil NH4 concentrations to evaluate soil augmentation properties of nodulating plants and symbionts. Greater biomass occurred in inoculated compared to uninoculated groups; the inoculated average biomass in potting mix and regolith (2.23 and 0.29 g, respectively) was greater than the uninoculated group (0.11 and 0.01 g, respectively). However, no significant differences existed in NH4 composition between potting mix and regolith simulant. Linear regression analysis results showed that: i) symbiotic plant-bacteria relationships differed between regolith and potting mix, with plant biomass positively correlated to regolith-bacteria interactions; and, ii) NH4 production was limited to plant uptake yet the relationships in regolith and potting mix were similar. It is promising that plant-legume symbiosis is a possibility for Martian soil colonization.

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“…This work takes place in body of studies that address the capacity of regolith simulants to support plant growth, in the context of ISRU for off-world colonization (Guinan 2018; Eichler et al 2021; Wamelink et al 2019; Wamelink et al 2014). As a precursor to human visitations and future off-world agricultural systems, research regarding plant response to simulated Martian environment is of chief importance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This notably comprises supplementation with nitrogen (through direct NH 4 /NO 3 supplementation or nitrogen fixing bacteria), an essential nutrient for plant growth, which is absent in JSC-Mars-1A simulant (Wamelink et al 2019), although Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory detected nitrate in sedimentary and aeolian deposits within Gale crater (Stern et al 2015). Other reports highlight the importance of soil acidification to improve the plant viability, and the necessity of detoxifying substrates from perchlorates (Eichler et al 2021), through e.g., perchlorate-reducing bacteria (Coates John et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogels improve plant growth in Mars analog conditions

Peyrusson

2021

Preprint

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Plants will be fundamental components of future human missions to Mars, and cultivation will probably suffer from the lack of optimal soils as well as of available liquid water. Additionally, the question as to whether Mars soils are suitable for plant cultivation is still open. Hydrogels are polymers able to absorb large quantity of water and have been shown to increase water retention in the soil, thus increasing plant establishment and growth. This work reports on the short-term assessment of plant growth in Mars soil analogs supplemented with hydrogels, in the constrained environment of a simulated life-on-Mars mission. Soil analogs consisted in sand and clay-rich material, sampled in the vicinity of the Mars Desert Research Station, a Mars analog facility surrounded by soils sharing similarities with mineralogical and chemical composition of Martian soils. Heights and dry biomass of Mentha spicata and seed germination of Raphanus sativus were monitored. Results revealed that clay-containing soil was the most unfavorable for the growth of control plants. The deleterious effects of Mars soil analogs on plant growth were potentiated under limited irrigation. By contrast, hydrogel amendment allowed for an overall improvement of plant endurance in Mars soil analogs, more pronounced under low watering conditions, leading to almost constant masses across conditions. Additionally, results point to an increase of seed germination rate in sand, which creates a dense medium with low water retention, that hydrogels might help loosening. The results suggest that Mars soil analogs can support the growth of plants in the tested conditions, and raise the hypothesis that in situ soils might be suitable for future exploration of Mars.

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Challenging the agricultural viability of martian regolith simulants

Cited by 47 publications

References 32 publications

A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars

A Low-Pressure, N2/CO2 Atmosphere Is Suitable for Cyanobacterium-Based Life-Support Systems on Mars

Soil fertility interactions with Sinorhizobium-legume symbiosis in a simulated Martian regolith; effects on nitrogen content and plant health

Hydrogels improve plant growth in Mars analog conditions

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