[meteorite-list] Allende, the new drug of 2005?

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Mar 21 13:24:59 2005
Message-ID: <423D0AA9.2E2994CB_at_bhil.com>

Hi, Darren, List

    Actually, this experiment has been done over and over. Besides the recent "Martian" trial Darren
referred to, it has been done many times with lunar regolith in years past. (Why don't they just call
it soil? It's Lunar soil, dammit!)
    Plants are not fussy. They will grow just fine on Mars. They will grow just fine on the Moon.
They will probably grow just fine on the Moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and so forth.
    They do need enough sunlight, of course, and they have an emotional attachment to gravity. (How else
to know which way is up?) And it helps if it's warm enough.
    Just pulverize the surface, throw up a one mill air cover, pump in the CO2 and nitrogen, spray it
down with the hose, and get ready to start weeding. Ooops! They won't be weeds unless we bring them
ourselves. Not a bad deal.
    I'm sure Lunar agriculture will be big business some day. 100% Absolute Guaranteed Pollution Free
Organic Lunar Produce! With no smoke stacks on the Moon, how could it be otherwise? And any trace
elements that are missing in the extraterrestrial environment can easily be added.
    You gardeners out there know you can buy "rock flour," as it's called, for your garden. Deaf Smith
County in Texas does a fine business right now grinding up the many stones that litter the Texas
landscape and selling the "flour."
    Robert Heinlein wrote a nice little novel about a family of "rock farmers" on Ganymede back in the
1950's. Turns out there's probably too much ice on Ganymede for that, but it was well-worked out for
the knowledge of the day.
    So, if we give Mars a little thicker atmosphere, warm it up a bit, and plant crops, do you suppose
we'll have to bring water to the fields? Guess so. Maybe we could dig some canals...


Sterling Webb
--------------------------------------------------
Darren Garrison wrote:

> On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 19:12:09 -0600, "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly_at_bhil.com> wrote:
>
> > Grow hydroponic vegetables where the minerals and salts that have to
> >be added to hydroponic tanks is 100% METEORITE DUST, and you have, Yes,
> >Friends! That's Right! EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANIC VEGETABLES!!!! Organic
> >Produce From Outer Space!
>
> Actually, that sounds like a really interesting experiment: take a meteorite. Pound it to dust.
> (Nothing rare, hopefully). Plant a seed in the dust and water it with distilled water. See if the
> seed manages to grow. I'd like to see that experiment done. (Maybe even do it with more than one
> type of stony-- a ordinary chondrite and a carbonaceous, for example). Heck, I'd try it myself with
> a small piece of 869, but I don't have the type of equipment I'd need to fully powder it.
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Received on Sun 20 Mar 2005 12:31:21 AM PST