UCF sells an experimental Martian dirt that you can buy for just $ 20 per kilogram

For those who want to discover the best growing crop on Mars, the University of Central Florida sells Martian soil, which you can order for just $ 20 plus shipping.

Humans going to Mars need food, water, and other essentials to survive, and scientists are currently researching how to make this happen.

It is particularly important to conduct research on how to grow food and know which crops can be grown on the red planet, and scientists need to test ideas using soils that most closely resemble those found on Mars.

Dan Britt, a member of UCF's Planetary Science Group, and his colleagues have developed a standardized and scientific method for creating a so-called simulant-like martian soil that can be used for these types of studies.

The Global Mars Simulant (MGS-1) in particular can be very useful for the research of future inhabited missions on the red planet. The simulant formula is based on the chemical signature of the Mars soil samples collected by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover.

Although there are other soil simulators, these are not standardized, which means that it can be difficult to compare two experiments from one to the other . The MGS-1 recipe is based on scientific methods to reduce levels of uncertainty

"Unlike previous simulators from landscaping materials, Mars Global is intended to be assembled ab initio from individual components to provide accurate correspondence with the mineralogy of the Martian regolith," write Britt and colleagues in the journal. . Icarus.

"The physical, chemical, spectral, and volatile properties of MGS-1-based prototype simulants are similar to Rocknest and other Mars-based measurements and are an improvement over previous simulators."

The researchers also said that the recipe can produce many variations. All simulants can be made in the laboratory and meet NASA safety standards.

The researchers said most of the minerals needed to simulate Mars dust are available on Earth, although some are very difficult to obtain.

The team has happily decided to make things easier for those who need the simulant for research by putting it on sale.

At $ 20 a kilo, plus postage, ordering a simulant from UCF is easier than doing it from scratch.

The team already has 30 orders waiting, including one from the Kennedy Space Center for half a tonne of Martian earth made in the laboratory. It seems that there is indeed a market for the simulant.