The secret to growing food on Mars could be fungi

Scientists think beneficial fungi could help transform nutrient-poor lunar and Martian regolith into a material capable of supporting crops. By helping plants access nutrients and withstand harsh conditions, these microbes could someday make self-sustaining space farming more realistic. The secret to growing food on Mars could be fungi.

The plan depends on beneficial fungi, microorganisms that could help improve Martian regolith enough for crops to grow. Success could reduce the need to ship food from Earth and, in this imagined scenario, even earn you a high school named in your honor. That vision may still be decades away, but researchers in the United States and Brazil are already examining whether fungi could make space agriculture more practical.

In a review recently published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, the team explored how beneficial fungi might help convert hostile lunar and Martian regolith into a more biologically suitable material for growing crops. Fungi Could Help Make Space Regolith Farmable Lunar and Martian regolith are poor environments for agriculture because they lack several nutrients that plants need to thrive. The researchers focused especially on shortages of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, along with ways those limitations might be overcome.