14 DAY TRIAL // Mars is a barren, desolate place. This much is true to anyone who's ever had the chance to have a look at photos of landscapes on this nearby planet.
NASA might have found liquid water on the orb, but, at least so far, there's no evidence of life. Not even a teeny tiny bacterium creeping about, looking for something to infect.
All the same, scientists say this doesn't mean Mars is as hostile a planet as many think it to be. Au contraire, plants could grow in the soils on its surface.
True, they would need a controlled environment to thrive. Still, studies have shown that all the right nutrients that plants need to grow can be found on Mars.
Hence, the scene in “The Martian” where astronaut Mark Watney uses Martian soil to grow a crop of potatoes for himself actually makes sense.
“In ‘The Martian,’ Mark Watney uses the Martian soil to grow potatoes in the controlled environment of the ‘Hab.’ In reality, the soil on Mars actually does have the nutrients plants would need to survive on Mars,” NASA scientists explain.
True, some terrains are better than others when it comes to sustaining plant life, seeing as nutrients are not evenly distributed on Mars. However, the space agency can really see astronauts of the future growing crops on the Red Planet.
