The concentration of perchlorates in Martian soil approaches 1%- while here on earth we consider it highly toxic in parts per million. If Andy Weir's Mark Watney had actually eaten those potatoes he grew in the regolith he would have died. Perchlorates, great for making rocket fuel, are toxic to plants too. In order to grow plants on Mar…
The concentration of perchlorates in Martian soil approaches 1%- while here on earth we consider it highly toxic in parts per million. If Andy Weir's Mark Watney had actually eaten those potatoes he grew in the regolith he would have died. Perchlorates, great for making rocket fuel, are toxic to plants too. In order to grow plants on Mars, the perchlorates- and probably other toxins- would need to first be removed, possibly by bacterial processing. The science and bioengineering of this is in its infancy.
Mars could probably be visited by humans in the near future, but we are many decades away, at least, from being able to live there.
Meanwhile, environmental catastrophe, which we DO have the technical understanding to avert, looms here on Earth. The cost of preventing that catastrophe is roughly equivalent to the projected costs of the Martian Fantasy.
The concentration of perchlorates in Martian soil approaches 1%- while here on earth we consider it highly toxic in parts per million. If Andy Weir's Mark Watney had actually eaten those potatoes he grew in the regolith he would have died. Perchlorates, great for making rocket fuel, are toxic to plants too. In order to grow plants on Mars, the perchlorates- and probably other toxins- would need to first be removed, possibly by bacterial processing. The science and bioengineering of this is in its infancy.
Mars could probably be visited by humans in the near future, but we are many decades away, at least, from being able to live there.
Meanwhile, environmental catastrophe, which we DO have the technical understanding to avert, looms here on Earth. The cost of preventing that catastrophe is roughly equivalent to the projected costs of the Martian Fantasy.