The 7th graders for the last 8 weeks have been planting and monitoring their plants for Plant Mars Project. Plant Mars project is given by the International Competition of Sciences. The North Dakota Space Grant gave us a grant so we could compete in this project. We received Mars Regolith so the students could plan an experiment to see if plants could grow using Mars Regolith. Regolith is not soil because it doesn't contain any organic material just minerals. The Regolith was made in Florida for this Project. Classrooms from all over the world do compete in this project every year. This year the 7th graders chose to try and grow Banana Peppers, Strawberries, Sugar Snap Peas, Mint, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, and Water Cress. In the picture above, those are the Sugar Snap Peas which are thriving in all but the 100% Mars Regolith. Some of the plants even produced peas. The students had 5 experimental groups: 1. 100% Mars Regolith, 2. 100% Top Soil, 3. 50% Mars Regolith, 50% Top Soil, 4. 60% Mars Regolith, 40% Top Soil, and 5. 70% Mars Regolith, 30% Top Soil. The below picture are carrots which are growing in the pots. Sugar Snap Peas and the Carrots were the only plants that did grow from the plants that the 7th graders were growing. So the 7th graders were able to grow plants on Mars.
