As in director Ridley Scott’s science fiction film Mars, where Matt Damon’s character plays a botanist who discovers how to grow potatoes on the red planet, a team of scientists from NASA and the International Center for the Potato (CIP) are carrying out an experiment to create a potato orchard in conditions similar to those that exist on our neighbor, the planet Mars.
The team is hopeful of building a controlled dome on Mars capable of creating a valid orchard for future space missions. In addition, this experiment will serve to demonstrate the strength of this tuber to grow in extreme conditions , which could also save lives on Earth, in the most devastated areas and where malnutrition and poverty among the population are common factors. Thanks to its high levels of nutrients and its ability to grow in difficult conditions, the potato is a true resource for global food security.
To carry out the task, scientists have set up a laboratory in Peru, specifically in La Joya . Experts have replicated the atmospheric conditions of the Martian planet using as soil the land from the Pampas de La Joya Desert (belonging to the great Atacama Desert), whose previous studies have shown that the land of this Peruvian desert is analogous to the soil of Mars.
” The atmosphere of Mars is about 95% carbon dioxide . The crop has benefited from the increased levels of carbon dioxide, the yield of which should be two to four times that of a cereal crop under normal Earth conditions ”, CIP explains in a press release.
