{"id":1397,"date":"2018-01-13T19:32:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-13T17:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1397"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:20:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T11:20:33","slug":"if-we-ever-get-to-mars-the-beer-might-not-be-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1397","title":{"rendered":"If We Ever Get to Mars, the Beer Might Not Be Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s an interplanetary botany discovery that took college students and not NASA scientists to find: Hops \u2014 the flowers used to add a pleasant bitterness to beer \u2014 grow well in Martian soil.
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Martian soil is different from dirt on Earth. It is dense, full of iron and dries out quickly. But with some work, plants can grow well. (Photo by NASA\/JPL\/ Cornell)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a practical plant, but it\u2019s doing fairly well,\u201d said\u00a0Edward F. Guinan<\/a>, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University.<\/p>\n

Last semester, 25 students took Dr. Guinan\u2019s class on astrobiology, about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.<\/p>\n

For the laboratory part of the course, the students became farmers, experimenting to see which crops might grow in Martian soil and feed future travelers there.
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Dr. Edward F. Guinan, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Villanova University, with two of his students in the \u201cMars Garden.\u201d (Photo by Villanova University)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was trying to come with a project for the students to do, a catchy project that would be fairly easy,\u201d Dr. Guinan said. \u201cI kept telling them, \u2018You\u2019re on Mars, there\u2019s a colony there, and it\u2019s your job to feed them. They\u2019re all depending on you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Guinan presented the findings on Friday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s back up: soil from Mars?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, no one has yet brought back anything from the red planet, but spacecraft like NASA\u2019s Phoenix Mars lander have analyzed Martian soil in great detail. Based on those measurements, scientists have come up with a reasonably good reproduction on Earth \u2014 crushed basalt from an ancient volcano in the Mojave Desert.\u00a0It\u2019s available for purchase<\/a>, and Dr. Guinan bought 100 pounds.<\/p>\n

Martian soil is very dense and dries out quickly \u2014 perhaps\u00a0better for making bricks<\/a>\u00a0than growing plants, which have trouble pushing their roots through. That includes potatoes, the savior food for the fictional Mark Watney in\u00a0\u201cThe Martian,\u201d the book by Andy Weir and later\u00a0<\/a>a<\/a>\u00a0movie<\/a>starring Matt Damon about a NASA astronaut stranded on Mars.<\/p>\n

For the most part, the students chose practical, nutritious plants like soy beans and kale in addition to potatoes. Some added herbs like basil and mint so that astronauts could enjoy more flavorful food on thesolar system\u2019s fourth world.<\/p>\n

And one group chose hops.<\/strong>
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