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ORLANDO, Fla. – Want to buy some dirt from Mars?
The University of Central Florida is now in the business of selling it—at least, the closest thing to it available on Earth.
Scientists at UCF, using data from the Curiosity Mars Rover, have been able to recreate a bit of the red planet here.
“So for the first time, with Mars anyway, we’re able to make a simulant that is fairly high fidelity,” said
Dan Britt, a UCF planetary sciences professor.
Britt and his team are behind synthesizing the experimental dirt.
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Like a cook in a kitchen, he mixes soil types from Hawaii, or Arizona, or Montana—and has been able to recreate the types of soil found on Mars.
“That’s the kilo of Mars you’re looking for. Notice it’s red!” he said.
NASA wants to use that soil to grow things.
“NASA just bought another half-ton of the Mars stuff. They’re mostly interested in growing plants,” said Britt.
Martian soil isn’t the only space dust the UCF lab is able to simulate. The scientists can whip up some moon dirt or the black pitch from an asteroid.
“This stuff is unbelievably dirty. It’s a lot like copy machine toner. It feels like that when you get it on your hands,” said Britt.
And for private space companies, like SpaceX and Blue Origin, the dirt brings buried treasure.
There are mining opportunities to explore. The soils also hold water, which can be turned into rocket fuel.
© 2018 Cox Media Group.
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