EARTHWORMS BORN IN NASA'S MARS SOIL FOR FIRST TIME RAISES PROSPECT OF FARMING ON THE RED PLANET
Worms have been born in a Mars soil simulant for the first time, bringing the prospect of farming on the Red Planet a step closer to reality. As earthworms are fundamental to healthy soil on Earth, their reproductive success could be integral to agricultural sustainability on Mars—good news for Elon Musk, who recently announced a plan to colonize Mars by 2022.
Wieger Wamelink, a biologist based at Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands, observed the critters in a soil sample being used to grow arugula. This soil, developed by NASA, mimics the kind of sustainable closed agricultural ecosystem necessary to support human life on Mars.