The Development of Regolith as a Resource for Establishing Quasi-Closed, Agro-Ecological Systems in our Solar System

Abstract

The history of the scientific study of closed ecological systems (CESs) in space has an underlying assumption that plants will grow and thrive in the in-situ geological substrate of Mars or the Moon (regolith) and automatically function the way a natural living system functions on Earth. However, CESs lack ecological stability and resilience due to missing essential feedbacks and cycles usually created in the geological substrate during and after primary succession. To understand how to establish a CES or a quasi-closed, agro-ecological system in extreme and changing Earth and space life-support systems, the research I perform looks at understanding how biogeochemical cycles and feedbacks may be developed in sterilized, degraded soil or regolith conditions – landscapes in a state prior to primary ecological succession – that will later be used for agriculture, with the expectation of providing ecosystem services to the organisms living in the immediate area. My research led to the creation of The Three Zone Model, an ecological system model for a self-sustaining and resilient human habitation on the Moon and Mars and for food security and climate change mitigation anywhere on Earth. Initial data for the Three Zone Model is collected through an experiment I conduct using twelve different combinations of Mars regolith simulant (MRS) pre-treatments; microbial inoculations and Grade A biosolids applications, plant combinations, and initial MRS water content conditions; to establish the mechanisms of primary succession. The pre-treatments are applied across twelve, one gallon pots of sterilized MRS. Ten replicates are done, with an additional twelve pots as an Earth-based soil control. The results reveal that the microbial inoculation and biosolids pre-treatment have a significantly greater effect on biomass production in pots containing peas and broccoli than those with just wheat (P = 0.0006). The initial MRS water content conditions and plant combination pre-treatment do not show any significant effects. Comparing pots with wheat and without wheat, the pots that contain wheat have a significantly greater effect on biomass production than pots without wheat (P = 0.0003). The other two pre-treatments do not show significant effects. The results provide insight into how the in-situ regolith resources of our solar system may be used to expedite primary succession in a quasi-closed, agro-ecological system for life support on the Earth, Moon, Mars, and beyond.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90323 ©2018 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 20-23, 2018