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Matt Damon's character in The Martian managed to cultivate potatoes on the red planet. Youtube/20thCenturyFox

NASA wants to grow genetically modified potatoes on Mars

The spuds will first be tested at the International Potato Center in Peru.

DO PERU’S POTATOES have the right stuff?

That’s the question scientists will be asking in Lima next month, when a selection of tubers will begin undergoing tests to determine whether they’re fit to grow on Mars.

NASA, the US space agency, is conducting the pioneering experiment together with Lima’s International Potato Center (CIP).

They will cultivate a hundred selected varieties already subjected to rigorous evaluation in extreme, Mars-like conditions that could eventually pave the way to building a dome on the Red Planet for farming the vegetable.

The selection was made from a total of 4,500 varieties registered at CIP, a nonprofit research facility that aims to reduce poverty and achieve food security.

Of the selected candidates, 40 are native to the Andes Mountains, conditioned to grow in different ecological zones, withstand sudden climate changes and reproduce in rocky, arid terrain.

The other 60 are genetically modified varieties able to survive with little water and salt. They are also immune to viruses.

Those that pass the tests must meet a final criterion — they must be able not only to grow well on Mars but also reproduce in large quantities.

“We’re almost 100% certain that many of the selected potatoes will past the tests,” said Julio Valdivia Silva, a Peruvian NASA astrobiologist who is taking part in the ambitious project.

CCTV English / YouTube

The scientists hope the experiment will also help address the earthly scourges of hunger and malnutrition by identifying varieties suited to growing in harsh conditions.

“We must be prepared for the future,” said virologist Jan Kreuze, a scientist at CIP.

To respond to desertification, rising temperature and high salt content in the soil.

Vegetable of the future

The soil in La Joya Pampas, a sector of the Atacama Desert in southern Peru that’s considered one of the driest places on earth, is very similar to that found on the Red Planet.

The scientists plan to transport 100kg of it to a CIP laboratory in Lima that will simulate the complex Martian atmosphere — which contains mostly carbon dioxide — and expose it to extreme ultraviolet radiation.

“We’ll have more concrete results in one or two years,” Valdivia said, adding that it will take more than five years to launch an unmanned mission to Mars.

The potential future space crop is also one of the oldest.

Records of potato cultivation date back to 2500 BC, when the indigenous Aymara Indians farmed it in modern-day Peru and Bolivia.

If the varieties selected for next month’s experiment don’t adapt to the desert soil, the researchers will introduce nutrients and subject them to radiation.

“If that doesn’t work,” Valdivia said, “we’ll administer a new method the CIP is using called aeroponics.”

The technique, used for cultivating plants without soil, would expose roots inside a sphere or cube that is sprayed with nutrients and contains a system for removing toxins.

In future years, NASA plans to build a Mars research center in the Peruvian desert.

It would create a perfect replica of the Martian landscape and atmosphere for future research into space farming that could serve manned missions to Mars and other planets in the solar system.

© – AFP 2016

Read: These photos are our first glimpse of the incredible tall sand dunes of Mars >

Read: The billionaire hoping to send men to Mars says we’ll need to nuke it first >

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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:07 AM

    Will they be waxy or floury?

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:22 PM

    Not sure, but if you eat one a day they’ll help you work, rest and play…

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    Mute Ron
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:32 PM

    Martian dung

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:39 PM

    Beats Cypriot human waste that they are grown in?

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    Mute C Mc Gyver
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:52 AM

    Spend millions trying to grow potatoes on Mars while no thought about trying to grow some in countries with famine and people dying of starvation.

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    Mute Dylan
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:07 AM

    I’m pretty sure that if they manage to grow a potato on Mars they might be able to grow one in a 3rd world country too.

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    Mute Peter King
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:17 AM

    I can’t believe you wasting your time commenting on this website when you could be using that time trying to solve world hunger.

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    Mute AARO-SAURUS
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:26 AM

    OMG. YOU ARE SO SELFISH. SOMEBODY COULD HAVE EATEN THAT COMMENT. GAWWW

    38
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    Mute tom
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:34 AM

    Maybe if they stopped buying ak47s and shooting each other they have time to plant something.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:20 PM

    Won’t people think of the trees before posting wasteful comments?….

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    Mute Tadhg Penston
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:54 PM

    Well, they actually have. But people tend to loose the plot when you mention go foods to them

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    Mute Freddie Rincon
    Favourite Freddie Rincon
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    Feb 20th 2016, 1:13 PM

    There are many of these research places. They are funded by the UN. And yes what you suggested is their primary aim. They try and solve problems that commercial groups are not interested in. A good group to work for if you like to travel and you have the skills.

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    Mute Matthew Donoghue
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    Feb 20th 2016, 2:11 PM

    They mentioned in the article that these potatoes could be used to feed starving people on earth too

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    Mute Fear Uisce
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:52 AM

    The thing I’m wondering is why we don’t have an international potato center

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    Mute Ronan O'Neill
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:30 AM

    “NASA, the US space agency…”

    Thanks for the clarification there, I couldn’t understand why the North American Saxophone Alliance wanted to grow potatoes on Mars.

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    Mute catkins407
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:21 AM

    So that would mean Mars would then be perfect for the Irish and the Russians to colonise. Nobody utilises spuds like these two nations and I’m not just talking taytos here! ( poiteen people Martian poiteen, it would be out of this world lol)

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    Mute liam
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:48 AM

    Space blight will kill millions.

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    Mute Stephen Collard
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:47 AM

    Tayto factory :)

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:47 AM

    This story is nearly a week old, this isn’t print media.

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    Mute Johnneary
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:01 AM

    Eating GMO food means sure painful death.
    As the elites have private organic gardens.

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:04 AM

    They have excellent quality tinfoil as well.

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:14 PM

    I’ll sell you a hat made from premium quality tinfoil along with some powdered unicorn horn if you like – it’s only 500 quid all in, you won’t get a better bargain anywhere…

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    Mute Johnneary
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    Feb 20th 2016, 7:35 PM
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    Mute Motherofdivinejebus
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    Feb 20th 2016, 8:47 PM

    Brav,phhokin Oh
    Johnneary

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 20th 2016, 9:42 PM

    http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/NaturalNews

    That tinfoil hat and powdered unicorn horn is still for sale John…..

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Feb 20th 2016, 9:46 PM

    “If you cite NaturalNews on any matter whatsoever, you are almost certainly wrong.”

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    Mute David Clarke
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    Feb 20th 2016, 2:52 PM

    The dawn of space age started with a spudnik

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:11 AM

    Sure we grow in any conditions and survive some of the most extrem political bullshit

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    Mute Don Juan
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    Feb 20th 2016, 10:53 AM

    They’ve been watching too many movies….

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    Mute Gone Feisin
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    Feb 20th 2016, 11:44 AM

    I dunno what is more shocking, growing potatoes on the moon or the fact there is an international potato centre and it isn’t in Ireland ;)

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    Mute Will
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    Feb 20th 2016, 1:57 PM

    Mars….

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    Mute Gone Feisin
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    Feb 20th 2016, 1:57 PM

    Mars*

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    Mute SCO Electrical
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    Feb 20th 2016, 5:11 PM

    Time to science the shit out of it

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    Mute Martin Healy
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    Feb 20th 2016, 12:04 PM

    Amazing all the people starving in the world, AND they want to grow f#*k#ng spuds on Mars

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Feb 20th 2016, 4:27 PM

    Unless there is a hidden deadly bacteria or virus on the planet???

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    Mute Nollaig Kelly
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    Feb 20th 2016, 1:10 PM

    That’s going to be some expensive tatties

    Does this mean land on Mars is now privatised

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    Mute Edmond Mc Grath
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    Feb 20th 2016, 4:40 PM

    Spudnik!

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    Mute Eamon Mac Gowan
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    Feb 21st 2016, 3:02 PM

    The “Martian” was the most PC movie ever, a multi culti fantasy of the most annoying kind.

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    Mute Patrick O Shea
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    Feb 20th 2016, 2:47 PM

    Good head up there too boys

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