I feel like sending earth worms to Mars is like sending pigs to South America. Perhaps there is nothing living there... I don't know. But do we need to have such an imperialist attitude with planets too?
Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
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Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#42I feel like sending earth worms to Mars is like sending pigs to South America. Perhaps there is nothing living there... I don't know. But do we need to have such an imperialist attitude with planets too?
Imperialism is not a bad thing.
Successful species spread and thrive. Failed species are extinct -- and we will be too if we don't get off this rock.
Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#43I'll paste in my previous comment about this. The tone is bit harsh, the context was more hypeful
> Ugh. I feel like Wamelinks researchs importance is way overblown. Hydroponics has shown that you need no soil to grow plants, so is it really surprising that Mars soil simultant that has been specifically treated to be friendly can sustain plants and worms? Especially when the simultant might not have been very accurate chemically to begin with. Personally I think the first generations will be using heavily hydroponics, and during that period can do actual in-situ experiments that are far more informative than anything we can do here on earth.
> Direct quote from their 2014 paper (I couldn't find the earthworm paper, links would be appreciated):
> > Our results show that it is in principle possible to grow plants in Martian and Lunar soil simulants although there was only one plant that formed a flower butt on moon soil simulant. Whether this extends to growing plants on Mars or the moon in full soils themselves remains an open question. More research is needed about the representativeness of the simulants, water holding capacity and other physical characteristics of the soils, whether our results extend to growing plants in full soil, the availability of reactive nitrogen on Mars and moon combined with the addition of nutrients and creating a balanced nutrient availability, and the influence of gravity, light and other conditions.
Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#44It's crazy how scientists are researching worms for Mars and yet our scientists in agriculture actively preach practices that compact soil and kill soil biology. Monsanto chemicals and John Deeres tractors are ruining systems that literally self renew.
Maybe we should try to work with earth's nature here before trying to emulate it on another planet?
Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#45I feel like sending earth worms to Mars is like sending pigs to South America. Perhaps there is nothing living there... I don't know. But do we need to have such an imperialist attitude with planets too?
Imperialism is not a bad thing. Successful species spread and thrive. Failed species are extinct -- and we will be too if we don't get off this rock.
That sounds like the mantra of an anthropomorphised virus. But my down-votes seem to suggest it's popular opinion here.
I'm just saying there was more to learn from America than "potatoes and corn are good".
Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#46Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imperialism is not a bad thing. Successful species spread and thrive. Failed species are extinct -- and we will be too if we don't get off this rock.
That sounds like the mantra of an anthropomorphised virus. But my down-votes seem to suggest it's popular opinion here. I'm just saying there was more to learn from America than "potatoes and corn are good".
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Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imperialism is not a bad thing. Successful species spread and thrive. Failed species are extinct -- and we will be too if we don't get off this rock.
That sounds like the mantra of an anthropomorphised virus. But my down-votes seem to suggest it's popular opinion here. I'm just saying there was more to learn from America than "potatoes and corn are good".
Some things live in a realm "beyond good and evil" and are just pure creation. I think Mars terraforming is one of those things. We are creating an entirely new system within which new goods and new evils might subsist. The entire notion of "Imperialism is bad" is a banal historical platitude in this context.
Re: Earthworms can reproduce in Mars soil simulant
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
A mars mission won't be getting frequent short-hop trips from earth. I would expect the habitats to use reduced-pressure atmospheres with less to no nitrogen.
What would you expect the habitats to have instead of nitrogen? You wouldn't want a high oxygen atmosphere. Not only is it an extreme fire risk (see Apollo 1), but humans aren't built for it - oxygen toxicity exists.
Nothing. He said reduced pressure.