In brief: Creating functional soils to support plants and humans on Mars

ALTOONA, PA. — With future intended human missions to Mars, Corien Bakermans, professor of microbiology at Penn State Altoona, and international collaborators are investigating whether Martian regolith — the loose mineral deposits that cover the surface of Mars — could be useful or harmful to humans.

Their findings were published in a recent edition of the “International Journal of Astrobiology.”

The team used tardigrades, microscopic, highly resilient animals, as model organisms to test simulated Martian soils (MGS-1 and OUCM-1). Both simulants reduced tardigrade activity, though OUCM-1 was less harmful, and washing MGS-1 significantly lessened negative effects.

These findings suggest that processing Martian regolith could help create functional soils to support plants and humans on Mars.