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Recreating Martian soil has revealed yet another hurdle for life on Mars.
Transcript
00:00 The 2015 film The Martian shows a desperate yet optimistic Matt Damon growing potatoes
00:07 on Mars.
00:08 But while his endeavors were ultimately successful, scientists are now saying that growing food
00:12 on Mars may be much harder than previously thought.
00:18 Researchers were able to synthesize to a degree Martian dirt and planted a couple of different
00:22 plants in it, finding that those that were planted in the synthetic dirt that most closely
00:25 matched the chemical makeup of Martian soil wouldn't grow.
00:28 Even when given ample fertilizer and controlled light.
00:31 Developer of the synthetic Martian dirt, planetary scientist Kevin Cannon said about the experiment,
00:36 "It's not surprising at all that as you get dirt that's more and more accurate,
00:39 closer to Mars, that it gets harder and harder for plants to grow in it.
00:42 That's because, unlike on Earth where all manner of microbial life helps plants flourish,
00:46 on Mars the soil is mostly crushed rock."
00:49 But that's not all.
00:50 Martian dirt also has a higher pH than that of Earth and a toxic salt called calcium perchlorate
00:54 that is found on around 2% of the Martian surface.
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