Can we cultivate potatoes on the red planet, as Mark Watney does in Only on Mars ? Not only NASA had put his two cents in the script, but the US agency continues to blithely surf on film, two months and a half after its theatrical release … This time, she will dig the potatoes history who gave of trouble as the hero of Ridley Scott.
NASA is partnering with the International Centre of the Potato (CIP) to find out if we can or not, cultivate the tuber to the surface of Mars. Within the CIP, a space “with atmospheric conditions, temperature, gravity, soil and radiation levels comparable to those of the Martian soil” will be created, said a Peruvian scientist associated with the project, Silva Julio Valdivia.
In the pampas near Arequipa
The Scientific assured to have found in the region of Arequipa in the south of the country, in an arid area pampas soil with characteristics very similar to that taken by the Mars Curiosity robot. He said that since 2005 several scientific publications confirm these similarities. “About 80 kg of the land of the Pampa de la Joya will be made in Lima,” said he detailed.
The research will begin in late January and will initially work two NASA scientists, nine researchers IPC and a specialist in Dubai (UAE). The researcher said the CIP selected nine apple varieties land, which the Peruvian variety, for the first phase. “A good result for us will be to see that a plant is grown, and then we can move to the next phase,” he added. These first results will be known in March. Obviously.
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