Scientists have extracted plants that could potentially survive on Mars

An international team of scientists has developed plants capable of producing organometallic structures (MOFs) - nanomaterials that allow plants to feel chemicals or to collect light more efficiently.

In the future, the development will allow them to grow on Mars and during deep-space travel, says the website of the American Chemical Society.

One of the main problems faced by scientists in planning colonization of other planets or prolonged space travel is the issue of self-provision of missions by food. In order to grow plants on ships and other planets, it is necessary to provide them with a high level of survival.



Researchers have tried to grow MOF inside plants - it would provide them with additional protection and learned to react to the change in the chemical composition of the air around.

To do this, scientists added to the water metal salts and organic linkers, and then placed in the solution of the plant. As a result, the precursors of MOF have clung to the roots. During the tests, the researchers covered the trimming of chrysanthemums and lilithurfs with luminescent MOF and left them under strong ultraviolet rays for three hours. Plants survived, noted in the description of the work.

"As we consider the cultivation of crops in space or on the Mars, where you do not have an atmosphere and you are exposed to ultraviolet rays, something like this may be useful. In particular, as the distance from the Sun becomes more and more difficult to capture the light necessary for photosynthesis," - says Joseph Richardson, lead author of the study.

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