Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

upi.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 146 posts

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#11

Post by david-given »

From the article:

"The box mimics the day-night patterns of Mars, as well as its temperature, air pressure and atmospheric composition."

Wait, really? They're growing plants in what's practically a vacuum and at subzero temperatures? Really? That seems... stupendously unlikely... to me. Not that I wouldn't love to be wrong, mind.

Anyone have a link to actual data? Everything linked to is just press fluff.

Update: Actual articles on growing plants at very low pressure:

https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/2... --- at 1/10 of an atmosphere, plants' metabolic balance gets screwed up and they go into drought response and die, no matter how much water is actually available.

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2009.0362 --- but lichen's probably fine.

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#13

Post by techthroway443 »

Shorel wrote: post #9
guelo wrote: post #8

I think this article is wrong about the temperature. There is little information available but here is the original press release http://cipotato.org/press-room/blog/indicators-show-potatoes... From what I can gather they used soil from some Peruvian desert and increased the CO2 in the chamber. But there is no mention of simulating the -80F night temperatures typical on Mars.

I'm pretty sure Martians measure temperature in Celsius.

You say that now. Wait til they colonize!

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#14

Post by stormbrew »

david-given wrote: post #11

From the article: "The box mimics the day-night patterns of Mars, as well as its temperature, air pressure and atmospheric composition." Wait, really? They're growing plants in what's practically a vacuum and at subzero temperatures? Really? That seems... stupendously unlikely... to me. Not that I wouldn't love to be wrong, mind. Anyone have a link to actual data? Everything linked to is just press fluff. Update: Act…

It sounds from the original press release [1] like they significantly enrich the soil to make up for that.

[1] http://cipotato.org/press-room/blog/indicators-show-potatoes...

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#15

Post by gregschlom »

Shorel wrote: post #9
guelo wrote: post #8

I think this article is wrong about the temperature. There is little information available but here is the original press release http://cipotato.org/press-room/blog/indicators-show-potatoes... From what I can gather they used soil from some Peruvian desert and increased the CO2 in the chamber. But there is no mention of simulating the -80F night temperatures typical on Mars.

I'm pretty sure Martians measure temperature in Celsius.

0 degrees Celsius being the freezing temperature of water at sea-level atmospheric pressure, that doesn't make much more sense either :-)

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#16

Post by stcredzero »

david-given wrote: post #11

From the article: "The box mimics the day-night patterns of Mars, as well as its temperature, air pressure and atmospheric composition." Wait, really? They're growing plants in what's practically a vacuum and at subzero temperatures? Really? That seems... stupendously unlikely... to me. Not that I wouldn't love to be wrong, mind. Anyone have a link to actual data? Everything linked to is just press fluff. Update: Act…

On the Cody's Lab YouTube channel, Cody did expose potato plants to Martian atmospheric pressure for short periods of time. Apparently, potato plants can survive a decompression event, so long as you get them back to an Earthlike environment promptly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8VPvBr4ppU

I doubt they could survive extended exposure, though.

Re: Study: Potatoes can grow on Mars

#19

Post by komali2 »

gregschlom wrote: post #15
Shorel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Martians measure temperature in Celsius.

0 degrees Celsius being the freezing temperature of water at sea-level atmospheric pressure, that doesn't make much more sense either :-)

Why not? That's just one of the ways to measure the "constant" 0 degrees Celsius. What that temperature is doesn't change just because you're at different air pressure. You don't say "water boils at 100 degrees celsius at every altitude," you say "huh neat water boils at different temperatures at different altitudes."
Post reply on HN