Team:UNIK Copenhagen/Soil


Can moss grow on Martian soil?

Testing if moss can survive in soil similar to Martian soil is an interesting experiment for two reasons:

  • Although it would be possible to bring a media for the moss to grow in, it would save launch mass if the moss could grow in the soil already present on Mars.
  • Mars soil contains perchlorate which is poisonous and moss could potentially be used to detoxify the martian soil and make it safe for astronauts.

    • What is JSC Mars-1 Simulant Soil? [1]

    JSC Mars-1 is a Martian soil stimulant that has been developed for the study of Mars both in the context of education and scientific research. The simulant is made from soil found on Pu'u Nene: a cinder cone on the Island of Hawaii. It was chosen for a number of reasons:

  • It's spectral analogue to the bright regions on Mars
  • It has been characterized vigorously by other scientists
  • A large quantity is available for collection


    • JSC Mars-1 has been characterized using a number of techniques, both chemical and physical, and then compared to our knowledge of martian soil collected by various rovers on the surface of Mars.

    Fig 1: Graphing similarity between JSC-Mars-1-Simulant and Martian soil


    Table 1: Showing chemical composition of JSC Mars-1 simuant vs Martian soil






    JSC-Mars-1-simulant soil comes from the sadle area between the volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on Big Island Hawaii. Team member Christina Toldbo went there to visit - check out the video below.





    Experimental setup

    Aim

    The aim of this experiment is to test whether moss can survive when placed in mars soil

    Materials

  • Wild type moss
  • Petri dishes
  • Phys B (moss growth medium)
  • Moss Blender
  • Martian soil simulant; JSC Mars-1
  • Brightfield microscope
    Fig 1: Graphing similarity between JSC-Mars-1-Simulant and Martian soil


    Method

    Conclusion

    Results of Soil Experiment



    Figure 2:


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    References:
    [1] Carlton C. Allen, Richard V. Morris, Karen M.Jager, D. C. Golden, David J. Lindstrom, Marilyn M. Lindstrom, John P. Lockwood and Lockheed Martin, MARTIAN REGOLITH SIMULANT JSC MARS-1, Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, http;//www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/LPSC/pdf/1690.pdf