Turkish scientists want to grow tomatoes on the Moon and Mars

According to the university statement, Assoc. Dr. Barış Uzilday and Dr. The project titled “Making Lunar and Mars Regolith Simulants Using Extremophyte Precursor Plants and Investigation of Signal Pathways Related to Stress Responses in Plants Grown in Regolith Simulants” was prepared by Tansel Kaygısız Aşçıoğul.

The study, which is eligible for funding under the TÜBİTAK “1001-Scientific and Technological Research Projects Support Program”, aims to carry out crop production in manned space colonies.

Assoc. Prof., whose opinions were included in the statement. Dr. Rengin Özgür Uzilday explained that the physical and chemical properties of lunar or Martian regolith should be improved to realize sustainable crop production in space colonies.

The goal is to grow extreme precursor plants in nutrient-poor Earth-like regoliths on the Moon and Mars, said Uzilday: “For this purpose, the goal was to elucidate the relevant molecular mechanisms. “Using this approach, it is planned to obtain data on increasing plant growth capacity in regolith for the first time in the literature,” he said.

Gezeravcı realized one of Uzilday's projects.

Congratulations to the project team, EU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Budak, Assoc. Dr. Rengin Özgür explained that one of Uzilday's projects was previously carried out in space by the first Turkish astronaut Alper Gezeravcı.