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The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is boldly growing where no one has grown before. A team of UNL researchers is leading the way in developing the first acre of plants, including corn, on the surface of the moon or Mars. Dale Johnson sat down with UNL Agricultural Engineer and Data Scientist Ehsan Fazayeli to get a deeper sense of the team’s grand vision.
Ehsan Fazayeli: Our grand vision is that Nebraska will have the first acre of plants on the surface of the moon or Mars.
Dale Johnson: An acre, for our urban audience, an acre is about 90% of a football field?
Fazayeli: That's correct.
Johnson: There are enough football fans in this state to get a pretty good idea what an acre is as you relate it to a football field. What has to happen in order for that acre of corn to become reality on Mars?
Fazayeli: When we are talking about irrigation on Earth, we know that. But when we are talking about space, the story is completely different because we are in microgravity or zero gravity. When you have pots with the plants, water cannot easily drain. Water and air bubbles surround the roots and the plant feels suffocation so they cannot survive.
Johnson: I have to admit, I'm having a tough time getting my farm kid mind around this, because I see rich nutrients in dirt, I see water, I see fertilizer and I see seeds. What has to change? Do you modify the seed and leave the medium the same? Do you change water? Do you fertilize it? Help this farm kid understand.
Fazayeli: When we are talking about the soil on the moon or Mars, there is no organic matter, there is no microbes, there is no air or water in the soil, so it's very difficult to use them as a substrate. Most researchers agree that we have to go for soil-less cultivation, without using soil. We call them Advanced Hydroponics, when roots of plants are directly in the water and nutrition, so they can source what they need from the water. In addition to that, I know that Martian soil is quite toxic. You cannot even touch it, I believe. It is very difficult to remove that toxicity from soil.
Johnson: Why corn?
Fazayeli: Because Nebraska is famous for corn. We’d love to have corn there.
Johnson: Talk to a farmer, and they'll tell you corn needs a lot of water. It needs a lot of nutrients in order to be productive, Mars and the Moon don’t have either one.
Fazayeli: For the early stages of space agriculture, I agree with others that we have to start with leafy greens.
Johnson: I'm reading kale and lettuce keeps coming up.
Fazayeli: Sometime I heard about tomato peppers. We should think about multiple crops and plants. Even some plants, not only for eating purposes, to provide life support system, to provide oxygen for us, to remove carbon dioxide.
Johnson: What is at this very moment the biggest roadblock in a time span that your team agrees is realistic?
Fazayeli: That's a very good question. Two main challenges, one is how to provide nutrients for plants, nitrogen. It is very difficult to find nitrogen there, and resupplying from Earth is much more difficult because it's costly and not reliable. And the second one, if we want to have a controlled environment for agriculture, eventually we need to have energy there. So I can say that energy is much more important than some nutrients like nitrogen. Whatever sensor, automations, robots, actuators you want to use, even the artificial light you want to use for growing plants you need to have energy. How do you want to harvest energy, how do you want to store this energy is one of the big challenges.
Johnson: How far away is the first corn field on the moon?
Fazayeli: That's a very challenging question for me as a PhD candidate, but I'm sure it shouldn't be much more than 30 years from now.
Johnson: Thirty years to a cornfield on the moon. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and what's taken place right here at the University of Nebraska, which I understand is one of the leading universities or “think tanks” for this type of NASA progress. Thank you for your time.
Fazayeli: Yeah, of course.
Johnson: Ehsan Fazayeli Joining me, UNL agricultural engineer and data scientist for the conversation on Nebraska Public Media. I'm Dale Johnson.