Future Farmers on Mars?

Future exploration of Mars would be greatly aided if some of our human needs could be produced on the planet. Conditions on Mars are too harsh to support any life forms presently known on Earth. NASA is funding research to look at the possibility of developing plants that might survive in greenhouses on the alien planet.

Researchers at North Carolina State University are looking at microscopic organisms called extremophiles, that survive in the harshest conditions on Earth, as a source of genetic material that could be used to engineer plants capable of surviving in the Martian environment. A gene from a microbe that thrives in the scalding waters around deep-sea vents has already been successfully inserted into tobacco cells.

The work could have practical applications here on Earth. Genes being looked at for use on Mars might also help plants tolerate severe conditions on Earth.

Link: Designer Plants on Mars from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 2:39 PM on May 31, 2005

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