Implementation
It is known that it is impossible to cultivate on Mars, or at least not as the idea that comes to our mind when thinking about growing plants, directly on the soil. Mars has a hostile environment; a distinct gravity, lack of water, acid pH soil and higher levels of radiation. So, in order to cultivate there, plants will have to adapt to these adverse conditions.
So, how can we contribute to this?
The last Biogalaxy team wondered how they could help plants to withstand these conditions, dealing with the different issues we have just introduced. As we wanted to continue with their project, we decided to focus on one of their fields of research: radiation. This year, we'll center our attention on how radiation affects plants and how we could be able to make them withstand Mars' UV radiation.
By genetically modifying the plants, we want to make them more resistant to UV-B light, so they could withstand better on Mars. We worked on how to increase the amount of photoprotective pigments that protect the plants against radiation. If you want to know more about this, we invite you to visit our Project Description.
But, why is radiation a problem?
Even though Mars is 79 million kilometers farther away from the Sun than Earth, radiation on the red planet is much higher. If you are wondering how this is possible, you must know that Earth prevents the infiltration of most radiation thanks to its unique atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Martian atmosphere is 100 times thinner than the one on Earth, so all types of radiation, UV- A, UV-B, UV-C, and cosmic radiation, are capable of passing through the atmosphere, reaching the planet's surface. Mars also lacks the magnetosphere that protects the Earth from nocive solar radiation.
We are going to focus on UV-B because depending on the dosage, it can act either as a key environmental signal received by plants to promote UV acclimation and survival or as a lethal source of energy. As at high doses, it creates free radicals that interact with DNA.
Why are plants important in space exploration?
If we were able to grow crops on another planet's soil, we would have a higher chance of survival and therefore of success on future space explorations. Hypothetically, cultivating plants on Mars could provide explorers with many benefits. To round it up, plants would potentially increase the possibilities of surviving on the red planet.
Nevertheless, the cultivation of plants is not as simple as it seems since Mars has different characteristics in comparison with the Earth. Then, plants will have to adapt to the Martian harsh conditions.
This is a long-term process, so we have come up with a way to shorten it. The base of our strategy is synthetic biology. As aforementioned, one of the alarming environmental characteristics of Mars is the increased level of radiation and lack of protection.
We aim to develop plants with new capabilities for space travel or eventually settlements on Mars.
Where could we cultivate on Mars?
There is a place on Mars that is quite interesting for our project, the lowest point on the whole planet, a place where modified plants would have a bigger chance of survival: Hellas Planitia. This is a huge plain located inside a roughly circular impact basin. Its characteristics couldn't be better for plants to grow, taking into account we are on Mars. Hellas Planitia is 2200 km wide, reaching depths of over 7km, the lowest point on Mars' surface.
Being lower down in a basin would mean a higher atmospheric density, being more similar to the Earth's one. Another advantage of this basin is the lower doses of radiation. Researchers found out that about 50% less radiation reaches the basin surface than in higher elevated regions on Mars. It was also discovered that the basin once had different sources and flows of water, making it a great place for future scientific investigations.