Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The humble potato is apparently so adaptable to different climatic conditions, NASA scientists are conducting serious tests, to see if the hardiest varieties could grow on the planet Mars. My question – what does this radical adaptability say about climatic food resilience, back here on Earth?
Echoing Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Nasa is running tests to see if potatoes could survive the climatic extremes of the red planet
…
“The Martian is completely possible,” says astrobiologist Julio Valdivia-Silva, the principal scientist working on the experiment in Peru.
Valdivia-Silva says the technology is growing at an “exponential” rate just as efforts to learn more about Mars are gathering pace.
Valdivia-Silva and his team aim to replicate Mars-like conditions on earth using a dome to create the same atmosphere, and soil consisting of sands brought from the Pampas de la Joya desert, part of the Atacama desert in southern Peru and one of the world’s driest and most nutrient-poor ecosystems.
Why the potato? The resilience of the humble spud combined with its huge number of species, genotypes and varieties means it can be grown from sea level to 4,700 metres above sea level while resisting drought, extreme heat and cold, salinity and UV radiation. It is also pound-for-pound one of the most nutritious staples as it is packed with vitamin C, zinc, iron, proteins and carbohydrates.
But Mars may be a whole new league of inhospitability. Temperatures on the planet vary wildly, between a high of 20C (68F) at its equator in summer to a low of -153C at the poles, according to Nasa . Its atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen and just 0.13% oxygen, which means the potatoes may grow fast but end up undersized. In addition, the dusty planet lacks ground water and there are winds of up to 60mph.
Water might be the biggest issue. Air pressure on Mars is so low, any liquid water usually just boils away. Even attempting to trap the water vapour in a plastic greenhouse, like the movie “The Martian”, might not help. All the potatoes I have ever grown love their water. But these conditions, low pressure, low water boiling point, extreme dryness, also apply to a lesser extent to the thin air of the High Andes, the source of some of the varieties of potatoes being tested.
One thing for sure – if a major, staple food crop is so adaptable, there is a realistic chance of growing it on another planet, claims that a few degrees global warming might cause mass starvation are utterly implausible. Absolute worst case, we might all have to develop a taste for more potatoes.
In the early 1990’s, we found a sodium borate mine called Loma Blanca in Jujuy Province in Northern Argentina at about 4200m elevation amsl. We funded this discovery 50:50 with INCO (International Nickel Company).
Herds of wild vicunas were visible, always in the distance, and the occasional ostrich roamed the range – they were very fast and nasty.
The local people lived in villages with no apparent government or medical services. The air was thin and some non-natives found it difficult to survive without oxygen at night. In winter, temperatures dropped to -40C (-40F) because of the altitude, even though it was not that far south of the equator.
The local people grew little potatoes and raised llamas in this high desert. These people were very nice, amiable and hardy. I liked them and think of them often.
Regards to all, Allan
http://cipotato.org/potato/native-varieties/
More than 4,000 varieties of native potatoes grow in the Andean highlands of Peru, Boliva, and Ecuador. Selected over centuries for their taste, texture, shape and color, these potato varieties are very well adapted to the harsh conditions that prevail in the high Andes, at altitudes ranging from 3,500 to 4,200 meters. Farmers generally produce these native varieties with minimal or no use of agrochemicals. Diversity is conserved on farms and in communities for subsistence use and as a highly valued heritage. Most of these varieties never see a market; they are traded among highland and lowland communities and given as gifts for weddings and other occasions. The varieties differ from community to community. It is believed that wild tubers were first domesticated around 8,000 years ago by farmers who lived on the high plains and mountain slopes near Lake Titicaca, which borders modern-day Bolivia and Peru. The tubers grew well in the cold, harsh climate and quickly took root as a centerpiece around which life revolved.
– See more at: http://cipotato.org/potato/native-varieties/#sthash.0A0QYw1P.dpuf
Allan – no ostriches in South America, stricly African. They would have been Rheas, which are native to Argentina and the neighboring countries – except Chile I think. As far as potatoes go, they are a “most likely to succeed” plant for Mars.
Rheas – who knew?
Thank you Duster.
Given that this is St Patrick’s day…let me warn the future settlers on Mars that over reliance on potatoes as a staple, might not be a great idea!
Monoculture millions of miles from home.
I was once scared by a humble potato.
I was clearing out my Aunt’s kitchen when I heard a crack behind me. The place was a bit spooky and likely to have mice or rats so I expected some invader when I heard a noise where no noise should have been. The kick board under the units had been pushed off and a pallid tentacle was poking out from underneath. It must be a prehistoric response but a pale snake like shape on the floor makes you jump somewhat.
When I investigated, I discovered an enormous potato shoot and one, by now, tiny shrivelled spud that must have rolled through a gap weeks if not months before. I felt a spark of admiration for the brave spud sending out a three foot shoot in search of light and having the last desperate trial of pushing over the wooden board but instead of planting it, I cast it into the bin for making me jump like a five year old.
Where it probably kept growing… 🙂
It did have more of a chance than the ones that got fried or boiled 🙂
If you want to live well and be healthy, eliminate GPS from your diet. Grain, Potato, sugar.
The food pyramid has about as much scientific validation as most climate science.
What’s wrong with G & P?
Hey, NASA, go to Mars before you start talking about colonizing it.
..Maybe we should try living on the Moon first ?
Way more hostile than Mars.
Why poor, innocent potatoes? What have they ever do to us? Instead of potatoes why not send the current crop of political leaders to Mars? There would be multiple benefits accruing to American citizens and the rest of the world, and NASA could save money sending them there by reducing the amount of supplies and equipment that would be needed, i.e., no heat producing equipment as these bloviating imbeciles can produce prodigious amounts of hot air; no fertilizer will be needed as pretty much everything they have to say is already full of excrement.
The second question should have read, “What have they ever done to us?”
From the article, they are importing soil from nutrient poor areas, probably at great expense. But are they really trying to replicate the Martian soil? From what I understand, Martian soil is full of perchlorates. Plants may not grow at all or could end up toxic. Perchlorates can be washed out, but that takes quite a bit of water.
Let’s accept that this is a complete waste of money. Sadly our tax dollars down the drain.
Given the vast areas on earth avaialbe for simple farming, maybe they could help the hungry around the world grow potatoes here first
Learning something is only a waste of money for the committedly ignorant. The tax dollars are not “down the drain,” if you think about it. Those dollars were spent here on earth, meaning that they circulate, in turn meaning that the value of the existence of those research dollars is amplified each time they change hands – so consider one example of the the money flow: taxes -> contract disbursement -> scientific staff:engineering staff:office staff:development:resource/material acquistions -> groceries:property tax:fuel:car:kids:education:taxes.
During the “space race” many folks complained bitterly about “all that money shot into space.” I recall pointing out to my father in law that no money at all was shot into space. It would have been useless there. Instead it was spent on earth to develop and buy equipment that would be useful in space. At the same time the research lead directly, for better or worse, to the technological environment we live in to day. Of course he then pointed out that the electronics had gold in them and “gold is money,” that from an engineer working on working on the Saturn Five rocket engines.
Bit of an old story. NASA were funding this work in the 80’s – I referenced this is my PhD:
Wheeler, R.M., and T.W. Tibbetts. 1986. Utilization of potatoes for life support systems in
space: I.Cultivar-photoperiod interactions. Amer. Potato1.63:315-323.
Thanks for the reference. Wheeler & Tibbetts estimated 34 square meters of potatoes to supply sufficient calories for one human. Enriching the air with CO2 increased yield only marginally, perhaps because all other conditions were more or less optimal.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11538067
It would be more feasible to grow potatoes on Venus. 😀
Not on the surface, of course, since the average temperature on the surface is over 450 degrees celsius, but up in the the sky, at 50 Km over the surface the temperature is 75 degress celsius and the pressure is 1.066 atm. At 55 Km over the surface the temperature is 27 degrees celsius and the pressure is 0.534 atm. Similar pressure as Loma Blanca, the Argentinan Village Allan McRae mentioned on a post above this one, and better temperature for growing potatoes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Venus
Besides, given that the atmosphere is composed mainly of CO2, (97%), and more dense that Earth air, (1.95 Kg/m³ vs. 1.29 Kg/ m³ at standard ambient temperature and pressure) breathable air is a lifting gas in Venus. A balloon filled with Earth air would create buoyancy. You may breath inside the balloon and potatoes can grow outside 😛
There is plenty of the main nutrient, CO2, which is the source of C and O. You’ll have to bring water and other nutrients for the potatoes to grow, though. And potatoes will produce O2 as byproduct.
urederra
LOVE IT, ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT !!! Terra-form Venus with orbiting farms. Generate oxygen and sequester CO2 in biomass. Collect interspatial hydrogen and make water with the O2 generated by potatoes (kudos to Dan Quail for the spelling). With the gravity and insolation on Venus, it is much more inviting for humans than Mars.
NO! WAIT! With a national debt of $19T, don’t give NASA any more ideas.
Potatoes do need specific nutrients. On top of nitrogen, they need a bit of sulfer. planted a couple of weeks ago and have 8″ tall plants. Of course most potatoes grow best in sandy soil conditions than they do in the clay of Galveston county Texas. my best solution is placing loose compost and soil on top and continue to add through the growing season. Thus having potatoes roots grow upeard.
that’s Sulfur
This is a nice break from the Climate Change Cultural Revolution operating at federal agencies.
“My Favorite Martian” did fine on Earth. Why wouldn’t “My Favorite Spud” do fine on Mars?
So you are on a rocket ship two months out from Earth. Destination: Mars. You have seed potatoes to grow for food once you get there. If they won’t grow . . . you die. But they grew on Earth in simulated conditions, so you should be fine.
Or . . . you are bound for Mars with enough food on board to carry you through your mission, with some to spare. One of your missions is to test to see if you can grow potatoes on Mars. If it fails (or succeeds), your report it back to Houston. Future missions will expand on the potato growing test.
It’s possible they’ll find useful information on earth. I doubt it. But the cost of Earth bound testing is radically cheaper than testing on Mars, so it will be a good idea someday. Not now.
Perhaps NASA is encouraging KFC and McDonalds to pitch in for the cost of the next launch.
Patrick MJD
March 16, 2016 at 11:37 pm wrote:
“Ben D
March 16, 2016 at 11:01 pm”
“Not sure how they will “solve” the magnetic field, gravity and radiation “problems” on Mars for current humans in their current form, but it seems they believe smashing rocks together is what we do best to solve problems!”
Well, if the people at NASA or the billionaire space entreprenuers had any sense, they would give up the extremely difficult task of trying to establish humans on Mars.
Instead, they should go find themselves a small asteriod, hollow it out, fill it with air and light and soil, rotate in around its long axis, to produce Earth-equivalent “gravity”, and they will have a perfect human habitat in space. They can locate it to an orbit around Mars, if they are facinated by the planet, and can visit Mars any time they want, and can then return to their safe habitat in orbit.
For illustration, let’s say we find an asteriod of suitable compostion, that is one milie in diameter and four miles long. We hollow this asteriod out using waterjet cutters, seal the ends, fill it with an atmosphere, and rotate the structure at one revolution per minute around the long axis which generates one Earth-equivalent “gravity” on the inside of the habitat. Double the size of the asteriod and reduce the rotation rate by half and you get the same Earth-equivalent “gravity” on the inside.
A habitat like this protects humans from radiation, and allows humans to live in comfort and the same kind of environment as the Earth. This is the future. Living on Mars is a sideshow.
BTW, we could have already had outposts around both the Moon and Mars a long time ago. I blame former NASA Administrator Goldin. 🙂 NASA had a bureaucrat leading it when we needed someone with vision.
NASA had all the hardware and money they needed to do these jobs, at the time, but they frittered this all away because that was not the focus of Goldin.
Without vision, the People’s space program perishes.
NASA could have put a space station in Earth orbit for $5 billion, and one launch of the space shuttle. And not much more for a space station around the Moon and Mars (the extra propellants required would increase the costs). Instead, they spent over $100 billion and ten years building the monstrocity we have up there now, that we can’t even get to it without the permission of the Russians. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!
A moron or two in the wrong place can do a lot of damage.
Oops….my post went into moderation.. N.W.O. must have done it?
And again….please mods…I am trying to reply to poster TA…why are my comments going into moderation..that’s two now?
A conspiracy to rid the Earth of Irishmen?
What if the Food Police decide potatoes are bad for you . . . again? Do they have jurisdiction on Mars?
When I was in third grade I had a plan for terraforming the Moon. I wrote it up in a letter and sent it to NASA. A few weeks later I got a nice letter back explaining why my plan wouldn’t work. I still have the letter. It was from Wernher von Braun
Impressed – post a copy to Anthony, submit story.