The problem with Martian dirt
If people ever live on Mars, they will need food, and shipping every meal from Earth would be slow and hugely expensive. The obvious answer is to grow crops there. The catch? The ground on Mars and on the Moon, called regolith (a layer of loose dust and broken rock), is terrible for plants. It is missing important nutrients like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
Enter the fungi
Researchers in the United States and Brazil looked at how beneficial fungi could help. On Earth, some fungi team up with plants. One group, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, attaches to roots and works like a network of microscopic extra roots, helping plants reach water and nutrients they could not get alone.
The team reviewed fungi that already help plants survive tough conditions, and even some that have been used on the International Space Station. The idea is that the right fungi could slowly turn lifeless regolith into something closer to real soil.
Is it happening soon?
Not yet. This is a review, which means the scientists collected and compared many earlier studies to see what looks most promising. Farming on Mars is probably still decades away, but figuring out the science now is how it starts.
If you could grow one food on Mars, what would it be?
Source: ScienceDaily
