Earthlings①， prepare to be amazed： New Zealand scientist Michael Mautner of New Zealand at Lincoln University has grown the world’s first Martian vegetables！ The tiny asparagus and potato plants didn’t arrive from a spaceship. They are the first plants to be grown successfully with Martian soil， here on Earth. Mautner was interested in exploring whether human is able to raise crops on Mars’ colonies in the future.
So how did Mautner get soil from Mars？ He made it by grinding② up slices③ of two Martian meteorites④ chunks⑤ of rock that had landed on Earth from the Red Planet.
Not many meteorites come from Mars， but Mautner was able to confirm that his did. Tests showed that they contained tiny bubbles ofgas. That gas had nearly the same chemical makeup⑥ as the Martian atmosphere studied in the late 1970s by the U.S. Viking spaceship.
Before planting， Mautner analyzed the rocks. He was delighted to find high levels of phosphates and nitrates⑦—chemicals that plants need to grow. “The Martian soil is just like naturally fertilize⑧，” he explains. He mixed ground—up rock with water and put pinhead—size bits of asparagus and potato plants into the mixture. The plants grew a couple of inches tall A few weeks later. Plants grown in the Martian soil were larger and healthier than others grown in water alone or in water mixed with ground-up Hawaiian lava⑨ rock.
① earthlingn. 地球人
② grindv. 磨碎
③ slicen. 切片
④ meteoriten.陨石
⑤ chunkn. 大块
⑥ makeupn. 构造，成分
⑦ nitraten. 硝酸盐
⑧ fertilizev. 施肥
⑨ lavan. 熔岩色
火星菜园
地球人，准备大吃一惊吧：林肯大学的纽西兰科学家麦克莫那已经种植出世界第一批火星蔬菜！那些细小的芦笋与马铃薯并不是搭宇宙飞船来的。它们是头一批用火星土壤在地球上种植成功的蔬菜。莫那想研究未来人类在火星的殖民地上能否种植农产品。
莫那的火星土壤从哪来？他将两块火星陨石——自红色行星落到地球的石块——切片磨碎而来。
地球上的陨石来自火星的并不多，但是莫那可以证明他那两块是火星来的。实验显示这些陨石含有极小的气泡，其中气体的化学成份与七零年代晚期美国维京号宇宙飞船研究过的火星大气层化学成份几乎完全相同。
在种植之前，莫那先分析石块。他很高兴发现其中含有高量磷酸盐及硝酸盐——植物生长所需的化学物质。他解释说：“就好像火星土壤经过天然施肥一样。”他混合磨碎的石头与水，将针尖大小的芦笋与马铃薯放入其中，数周后就长到两三寸高。用火星土壤所种的植株，比起只用水或者用夏威夷碎熔岩混水种出来的更大、更健康。