Have you seen the movie The Martian with Matt Damon? It's about an astronaut that accidentally gets left behind on Mars and has to fend for himself until he is rescued, including growing his own garden. How cool is it when life imitates art?
It was just announced that the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium board has voted to fund a joint project with Southern Arkansas University's chemistry department and the agriculture department to try and grow crops of vegetables in a Mars-like soil and see if they can improve the crops by adding micronutrients through types of fertilizer.
The plan is to try growing crops of soybeans, corn, lettuce, kale, and more to see if we can live on Mars and grow food. Dr. Adbel Bachri, dean of the College of Science and Engineering, said in a press release;
The proposed research is very relevant to NASA plant researchers' Exploration of Deep-Space Food Crops and will contribute to answering an important question: Is a Martian greenhouse possible?
Read more at kkyr.com