The University of Central Florida has made fake dirt on Mars and sells it now

Mars is very far away, but it is perfectly clear that the next big challenge for humanity is to go there. Space agencies around the world are already working hard on various aspects of the first human missions on Mars, but it's incredibly difficult to plan a visit to a planet where no human has ever set foot .

That's why researchers at the University of Central Florida sell soil.

Of course, it is not about any dirt, but about the fake dirt on the planet Mars, which, according to the school, will be invaluable for any scientific mission that plans to use Martian material at its disposal. own purposes.

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This dirt is not just dressed as the coppery dust that covers much of the planet Mars, but it is chemically similar to the real thing. Thanks to the data returned by NASA's Curiosity mobile, the researchers were able to make a floor that looks a lot like the one found on the red planet.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The UCF team that created the ground and published an article about his creation in Icarussays that it's important to work with Mars Soil Simulators if we ever want to grow food on Mars. The researchers suggest that it's better than getting there and discovering that your plan will not work. "Data-reactid =" 25 "> The UCF team that created the ground published an article about its creation in Icarussays that it's important to work with Mars Soil Simulators if we ever want to grow food on Mars. It's better than getting there and discovering that your plan will not work, suggest the researchers.

"You would not want to find out that your method did not work when we were really there," says Dan Britt of the UCF Group's Planetary Sciences group in a statement. "What would you do then? It takes years to get there.

Well, in this case, you probably would not be lucky, but with realistic simulants with which it is possible to play here on Earth, it is possible for scientists to determine the additional elements that they would need to be able to produce the food on Mars once the humans arrive.

The land sells for $ 20 a kilo, about $ 9 a pound. This seems like a good price for something you would otherwise have to fly to another planet to get (or create yourself), and the team reports that it already has about 30 orders pending.

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