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I am currently researching the idea of growing spirulina algae on Mars for as a renewable source of oxygen, food and material. So the question arises: How feasible would it be to grow spirulina in an artificial habitat on Mars?

Awesomepotato29
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    I'd link up your sources from your answer on uhoh's question, gives context: https://www.sanat.co.in/health-blog/123/why-nasa-has-recommends-spirulina-as-excellent-space-food and http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132016000100409 – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '18 at 16:05
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    Growing algae on the surface of Mars and within its atmosphere, or growing them in greenhouses on Mars with a different atmosphere? – Uwe Aug 24 '18 at 09:15
  • @Uwe Edit: Clarified question, should have done this earlier. – Awesomepotato29 Aug 28 '18 at 00:12

2 Answers2

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There are photosynthesizing organisms capable of growing on Mars !
Some places on Mars near the equator are low enough to have liquid water on the surface for a few hours.

But as @anon stated in his answer there are other oxygen producing organisms that are better suited for use as food or the production of plastic than algae.

Could one of them be Nostoc Commune ?

enter image description here

Photo taken by YAMAMAYA

Nostoc Commune is a species of cyanobacterium, so it produces oxygen, common names include star jelly and fah-tsai. It's a colonial species, forming a gelatinous mass with other colonies growing nearby and between the ordinary cells nitrogen-fixing cells occur.
It is found in many countries around the world and is able to survive in extreme conditions in polar regions and arid areas. The cells also contain pigments that absorb ultraviolet radiation which enables it to survive in places where high levels of radiation occur !

It produces extracellular polysaccharides that can be used for plastic production.

Nostoc Commune is eaten in east Asia.

I think algae are not suitable for Mars, in particular because of the dry conditions there and the ultraviolet radiation, but it well may be that Nostoc Cummune is suitable within the lower regions near the equator !

Cornelis
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    I like this post simply for the new microbes people bring to it. This is indeed an awesome species because it is nitrogen fixing and edible. The hardest part with plants is meeting their nutritional demands which in a world like ours is usually handled by a plethora of other microbes that compose their ecosystem. Anyways, mars's atmosphere is nitrogen starved and the equatorial nights go well below freezing, even these would not be able to survive unprotected. – anon Aug 24 '18 at 20:58
  • @anon You could be right, i only know that it's able to survive in extreme conditions in polar regions. Regarding nitrogen, there is some in Mars's atmosphere and when not enough then we have to choose the regions where there are nitrates in the rocks or soils. – Cornelis Aug 24 '18 at 21:53
  • to my knowledge nitrates dont occur naturally(geologically). They are created by organisms like the one above and then just recycled endlessly. A sterile world like Mars shouldnt have natural nitrates. – anon Aug 24 '18 at 21:59
  • @anon Look for nitrate and Mars and you will find that Curiosity found nitrate in windblown sediments. – Cornelis Aug 25 '18 at 08:03
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There are a few questions like this but I cant find one that addresses all the avenues of this question.

1) No known terrestrial photosynthesizing organism is capable of growing on Mars currently. This is because of the temperature and pressure of Mars as well as the fact that it's very dry. These aspects are important because, as far we know it, all photosynthesizing life forms require liquid water which would either freeze or vaporize on Mars. Thus seeding Mars with algae would do nothing.

2) If you meant raising algae in controlled environments on Mars that's a little different. It is possible but not necessarily feasible.

  • Algae does not make for good human food.
  • Algae requires a lot more water to productively grow than other plants.
  • Algae harvesting and processing requires more equipment than other plants
  • there are methods that can produce plastics from processing any organic matter

In short, there is a long list of plants better suited for these purposes than algae.

anon
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  • "terrestrial photosynthesizing organism" - This phrase is ambiguous. It is used to refer to photosynthesizing organisms that grow on land, and it could also mean photosynthesizing organisms on Earth. I suspect you mean the latter, but you should probably clarify. – called2voyage Aug 23 '18 at 19:48
  • These two points are most pertinent to the OP's question and could use some further detail and sources: "Algae requires a lot more water to productively grow than other plants." "Algae harvesting and processing requires more equipment than other plants" – called2voyage Aug 23 '18 at 19:55
  • Can you give me specific list of plants? – Awesomepotato29 Aug 23 '18 at 20:00
  • @Awesomepotato29 lol ok, http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/ess/documents/world_census_of_agriculture/appendix4_r7.pdf – anon Aug 23 '18 at 20:07
  • @anon actually... Algae ARE good food – Awesomepotato29 Aug 23 '18 at 20:13
  • @called2voyage yes a lot more detail could be done on farming, harvesting, and processing techniques of algae. That however is a whole world of information beyond this question and stack. But plain and simple, to effectively grow algae you need an aquatic environment which instantly makes it as water demanding as rice. Then obviously to separate it from the water you need a filter, I dont need a filter to harvest rice. – anon Aug 23 '18 at 20:14
  • Hold on I didnt know about this spirulina variant, my answer applies to the majority of algae which is where it is true. This stuff is interesting but the water requirements still pose an issue, need to look at this more. – anon Aug 23 '18 at 20:32
  • A definite problem with spirulina is that you need to supply its nutrients only and not any toxins. Any toxins present or organisms that manage those toxins will end up in the edible product. It is not impossible it just requires research and engineering. – anon Aug 23 '18 at 20:41
  • @anon I was hoping for an actual list, not just a literal list of every substance cultivated for profit by man. "Tobacco-only colony on Mars is always coughing for some reason-- 'I'd rather cough eat algae cough.' one man was quoted saying." I mean even the plant used to make mace is on that list haha. – Magic Octopus Urn Aug 23 '18 at 21:11
  • The point at the time I was trying to make was that just about every other edible plant had value over algae because i didnt know about this spirulina variant. Algae is actually an incredibly large group of organisms most of which are not fit for human consumption. – anon Aug 24 '18 at 20:49
  • @anon Sorry, I should have clarified. – Awesomepotato29 Aug 28 '18 at 00:14