Farming on Mars?

Scientists are coming closer

to finding solutions
By The Guardian, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.07.19
Word Count 662
Level 850L

Mars is frigid, dry and bombarded by radiation, and its soil contains potentially toxic chemicals. Photo by: Nasa JPL Caltech
MSSS/handout/EPA

Life on Mars is looking better for future astronauts. When they sit down to dinner on the empty
planet, they can have fresh food grown on Mars.

The harsh environment on Mars has always made growing food a difficult possibility. However,
scientists believe they have figured out a solution to the problem. Sheets of material can change
the cold, dry surface into land fit for farming.

Food Would Not Have To Come From Earth

The sheets are made of "aerogel." They work in a way similar to Earth's greenhouse effect. The
energy from the sun is trapped on Earth by carbon dioxide and other gases in the Earth's
atmosphere. Spread out in the right places on Mars, the sheets would warm the ground and melt
enough ice to keep plants alive. They could be important for supporting people with food grown on
Mars. Food would not have to come from Earth that way.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Robin Wordsworth worked on the sheets at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He
said the approach could be useful to allow people to live on another planet without help from
Earth. It can be done on a small or large scale, he said. The area covered could be anywhere from
the size of a bathroom to large regions of the planet.

Stephen Hawking, a scientist who died in 2018, said people must spread beyond Earth. If we do,
then growing food in alien worlds will be a needed skill. However, on Mars the conditions are not
good. The planet is bitterly cold and dry. The soil might contain toxic chemicals, and the
atmosphere is low on nitrogen. Plants need nitrogen to grow.

In the past, scientists have proposed "terraforming" places like Mars. It calls for rebuilding the
whole atmosphere. In 1971 the American scientist Carl Sagan had an idea. He suggested that
turning the northern polar ice cap on Mars to vapor might release enough water into the
atmosphere to do the trick. Simpler ideas have involved putting up greenhouses instead.

The aerogel sheets do not solve all of the problems. Still, they could help future space residents
create a place where plants and other organisms using photosynthesis can take root. The plants
would grow only beneath the sheets. So the risk of harming the rest of Mars with foreign life forms
would be small, Wordsworth said.

Trapping Enough Heat To Melt Ice In Martian Soil

The scientists studying the sheets included some at NASA, the U.S. space agency. Others were at
the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The aerogel used to make the sheets is made up of 97
percent air. The scientists showed that sheets of the aerogel about an inch thick blocked harmful
ultraviolet rays. They also allowed light through for photosynthesis and trapped enough heat to
melt ice in Martian soil.

Placing the sheets over icy regions of the Martian surface could "allow photosynthetic life to
survive there," the scientists wrote. Their study was published in Nature Astronomy. The sheets
could be laid directly on the ground to grow water plants. They also could be hanging to give room
for land plants to grow below them.

Wordsworth said, "The best place to try this is similar to where you'd want to land humans" on
Mars. Those are places that are not too close to the equator of Mars. They are also not too close to
the poles. Yet they need to be close enough to the polar caps that ice is still around, he said.

"You can imagine this being used in a number of ways." The quickest and easiest would be a small
test with a robotic lander, he said. Later it could be used to feed people on Mars. "In the longer
term it could be used in support of human exploration missions," he said. Eventually, it could be
used to support homes, he said. The goal would be to have the habitats support themselves as
much as possible, he said.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Quiz

1 Read the section "Food Would Not Have To Come From Earth."

Which sentence from the section supports the conclusion that the challenges to growing food on Mars extend beyond the lack of
water and cold temperature?

(A) The area covered could be anywhere from the size of a bathroom to large regions of the planet.

(B) The soil might contain toxic chemicals, and the atmosphere is low on nitrogen.

(C) The plants would grow only beneath the sheets.

(D) So the risk of harming the rest of Mars with foreign life forms would be small, Wordsworth said.

2 Read the paragraph from the section "Trapping Enough Heat To Melt Ice In Martian Soil."

Wordsworth said, "The best place to try this is similar to where you'd want to land humans" on
Mars. Those are places that are not too close to the equator of Mars. They are also not too close
to the poles. Yet they need to be close enough to the polar caps that ice is still around, he said.

Which answer choice MOST accurately explains what this paragraph means?

(A) Wordsworth is worried the sheets will have to be placed far away from where humans could live on
Mars.

(B) Wordsworth is worried the sheets will not work as well as most scientists expect them to work on Mars.

(C) Wordsworth thinks there are only a few locations on Mars where people could land and the sheets
would work.

(D) Wordsworth thinks Mars is the only planet that has ice caps with enough water for humans to grow
plants.

3 According to the section "Food Would Not Have To Come From Earth," how do the aerogel sheets work?

(A) Aerogel sheets would immediately allow human exploration of Mars by planting seeds deep in the
planet's soil.

(B) Aerogel sheets would provide fake sunlight to help grow plants that human explorers bring to Mars from
Earth.

(C) Aerogel sheets would be spread out across large regions to help move water from the polar ice caps to
dry areas.

(D) Aerogel sheets would trap heat from the sun in order to warm the ground enough to melt ice and keep
plants alive.

4 What effect would Carl Sagan's idea about terraforming have on Mars?

(A) It would vaporize the northern polar ice cap on Mars to release water for plants into the atmosphere.

(B) It would pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere of Mars in order to heat the planet and melt ice.

(C) It would dig deep into the soil of Mars in order to plant seeds in layers of dirt that have more nutrients.

(D) It would create special places where human farmers could stay on Mars and grow plants in buildings.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Answer Key

1 Read the section "Food Would Not Have To Come From Earth."

Which sentence from the section supports the conclusion that the challenges to growing food on Mars extend beyond the lack of
water and cold temperature?

(A) The area covered could be anywhere from the size of a bathroom to large regions of the planet.

(B) The soil might contain toxic chemicals, and the atmosphere is low on nitrogen.

(C) The plants would grow only beneath the sheets.

(D) So the risk of harming the rest of Mars with foreign life forms would be small, Wordsworth said.

2 Read the paragraph from the section "Trapping Enough Heat To Melt Ice In Martian Soil."

Wordsworth said, "The best place to try this is similar to where you'd want to land humans" on
Mars. Those are places that are not too close to the equator of Mars. They are also not too close
to the poles. Yet they need to be close enough to the polar caps that ice is still around, he said.

Which answer choice MOST accurately explains what this paragraph means?

(A) Wordsworth is worried the sheets will have to be placed far away from where humans could live on
Mars.

(B) Wordsworth is worried the sheets will not work as well as most scientists expect them to work on Mars.

(C) Wordsworth thinks there are only a few locations on Mars where people could land and the
sheets would work.

(D) Wordsworth thinks Mars is the only planet that has ice caps with enough water for humans to grow
plants.

3 According to the section "Food Would Not Have To Come From Earth," how do the aerogel sheets work?

(A) Aerogel sheets would immediately allow human exploration of Mars by planting seeds deep in the
planet's soil.

(B) Aerogel sheets would provide fake sunlight to help grow plants that human explorers bring to Mars from
Earth.

(C) Aerogel sheets would be spread out across large regions to help move water from the polar ice caps to
dry areas.

(D) Aerogel sheets would trap heat from the sun in order to warm the ground enough to melt ice and
keep plants alive.

4 What effect would Carl Sagan's idea about terraforming have on Mars?

(A) It would vaporize the northern polar ice cap on Mars to release water for plants into the
atmosphere.

(B) It would pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere of Mars in order to heat the planet and melt ice.

(C) It would dig deep into the soil of Mars in order to plant seeds in layers of dirt that have more nutrients.

(D) It would create special places where human farmers could stay on Mars and grow plants in buildings.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.