ArticlePloS one2022
Farming on Mars: Treatment of basaltic regolith soil and briny water simulants sustains plant growth.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond Earth: Recent Advancements in Microgravity Biomedical and Genetic Research in Saudi Arabia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Mechatronics Design of a Clinostat Agriculture Space System for Biomimetic Phyto-Growth in Microgravity (Phyto-G) and 3D-Motion Computer Simulation on Hydroponic Environment.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Maize (Zea mays L.) survival on Mars depends on regolith's chemical composition rather than reduced gravity or lack of magnetic field.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mars Potato Cultivation: Analysis, Challenges, Sustainable Scientific Conceptions.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Emerging Chemical and Biological Materials Technologies in the Extraplanetary Environment.Nano-micro letters · 2026Review
- Superfood potential of Chlorella vulgaris: productivity and antioxidant boost under simulated moon and microgravity conditions.NPJ microgravity · 2025Article
- Exploring plant responses to altered gravity for advancing space agriculture.Plant communications · 2025Review
- A Comparison of Different Protocols for the Extraction of Microbial DNA Inhabiting Synthetic Mars Simulant Soil.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Assessment of Fertility Dynamics and Nutritional Quality of Potato Tubers in a Compost-Amended Mars Regolith Simulant.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Telomere dynamics and oxidative stress in Arabidopsis grown in lunar regolith simulant.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Article
- Polyextremophile engineering: a review of organisms that push the limits of life.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Review
- Effects of Mars Global Simulant (MGS-1) on Growth and Physiology of Sweet Potato: A Space Model Plant.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A fundamental challenge in human missions to Mars is producing consumable foods efficiently with the in situ resources such as soil, water, nutrients and solar radiation available on Mars. The low nutrient content of martian soil and high salinity of water render them unfit for direct use for propagating food crops on Mars. It is therefore essential to develop strategies to enhance nutrient content in Mars soil and to desalinate briny water for long-term missions on Mars. We report simple and efficient strategies for treating basaltic regolith simulant soil and briny water simulant for suitable resources for growing plants. We show that alfalfa plants grow well in a nutrient-limited basaltic regolith simulant soil and that the alfalfa biomass can be used as a biofertilizer to sustain growth and production of turnip, radish and lettuce in the basaltic regolith simulant soil. Moreover, we show that marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 effectively desalinates the briny water simulant, and that desalination can be further enhanced by filtration through basalt-type volcanic rocks. Our findings indicate that it is possible to grow food crops with alfalfa treated basaltic regolith martian soil as a substratum watered with biodesalinated water.
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