Yah people skipping over this really don't get how hard it is to grow plants in what's basically finely ground glass. We take for granted that we have stuff on Earth called "soil" because hot damn, that shit doesn't exist anywhere else that we know of. Soil is a product of millions of years of complex interactions between plants, bacteria and water and fungus and other life forms. Everywhere else in the solar system you go, all you get is the equivalent of pulverized asphalt.

I have this idea that if aliens ever did invade because they want some resource we have, it certainly wouldn't be water or minerals, but the one thing we have here that you can't find anywhere else is fertile soil. I just don't know how exciting of a story you can weave around dirt-seeking aliens.

I don't think we're ever going to see a permanent human settlement off our world, at least not in our lifetime, but it's good to know that our granddroids have a chance. Assuming they actually need to grow plants out there.

[–] tryplot@piefed.ca 1 points 17 hours ago

we'd be the compost planet. we'd live on their food scraps, and they'd harvest the results

[–] melfie@lemy.lol 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

That’s true—water is abundant in the solar system, but soil is magical stuff. The perchlorates in Martian regolith are especially nasty. Not going to be growing ‘taters like Matt Damon does in The Martian anytime soon.

[–] eleitl@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Perchlorates are water-soluble, and there is lots of ice on Mars. But people won't live there sustainably, so there is no point to it.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

because hot damn, that shit doesn't exist anywhere else that we know of. Soil is a product of millions of years of complex interactions between plants, bacteria and water and fungus and other life forms.

Actually, you only need ground bedrock, some organic matter and some bugs & and worms and a few years (like, 2 to 6). And Mykorrhiza and water of course, for most plants.

But the Moon is special in that it doesn't have erosion, the "dust" is in the form of microscopic shards, sticky and abrasive.

While dry desert planets like Mars – with erosion — have mostly the Australian kind of fine dust, which also sticks to everything, but is not abrasive.

Btw, there's also Orsol farming; growing them on a sponge, with nothing but some fertilizer juice. Though they are usually more bland, since they lack some micronutrients (due to the lack of Mykorrhiza, among others).

[–] xav@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

Funny I didn't know that word "Orsol". Guess it's another word coming directly from the French : "Hors-sol" (literally "out-of-the-ground" or "off-ground") which is used for growing plants in an artificial substrate.