Ants in Martian Soil

[pyro4jesus]

I am working on a project where I will be growing mushrooms and plants in a combination of Martian regolith and packaging materials. I will be living in a lunar habitat(on earth) and doing this research. I am waiting on my Martian regolith to arrive in the mail and this got me thinking if anyone has ever tried to raise ants in Martian or Lunar soil. This is something I would be very interested in trying and if anyone else would like to do this or to collaborate please let me know. You can get simulated regolith for mars the moon and asteroids from a Website.

Admin Edit: Removed the Link. Looked Suspicious.

[AntsLuxembourg]

I am working on a project where I will be growing mushrooms and plants in a combination of Martian regolith and packaging materials. I will be living in a lunar habitat(on earth) and doing this research. I am waiting on my Martian regolith to arrive in the mail and this got me thinking if anyone has ever tried to raise ants in Martian or Lunar soil. This is something I would be very interested in trying and if anyone else would like to do this or to collaborate please let me know. You can get simulated regolith for mars the moon and asteroids from a Website.

Hey,

This sounds like an interesting study. However as far as I know there is no Marsian Soil on Earth as of yet so it would be very difficult to get the exact same type of Soil for these experiment. But if I had to choose I would pick a species that is used to building nests in dry sandy soil or in dry soil in general. Mainly because they would need to live in "Martian conditions" but with oxygen available to them.
So maybe an Antspecies from Australia would be an idea. But it takes years to grow a colony to a healthy size to where you can just grab some workers or a whole colony and let them lose on a container filled with that type of soil.

[SolenopsisKeeper]

I am working on a project where I will be growing mushrooms and plants in a combination of Martian regolith and packaging materials. I will be living in a lunar habitat(on earth) and doing this research. I am waiting on my Martian regolith to arrive in the mail and this got me thinking if anyone has ever tried to raise ants in Martian or Lunar soil. This is something I would be very interested in trying and if anyone else would like to do this or to collaborate please let me know. You can get simulated regolith for mars the moon and asteroids from a Website.

Hey,

This sounds like an interesting study. However as far as I know there is no Marsian Soil on Earth as of yet so it would be very difficult to get the exact same type of Soil for these experiment. But if I had to choose I would pick a species that is used to building nests in dry sandy soil or in dry soil in general. Mainly because they would need to live in "Martian conditions" but with oxygen available to them.
So maybe an Antspecies from Australia would be an idea. But it takes years to grow a colony to a healthy size to where you can just grab some workers or a whole colony and let them lose on a container filled with that type of soil.

Now that you mention dry species, he is in Texas so maybe some Honeypot ants…

[pyro4jesus]

There is a company that makes lunar and martian analog soil. https://exolithsimulants.com/ I am using some in a research study now using mushrooms to digest plastic and fertilize martian regolith. I was just thinking about my next research since I am quickly learning I am not a mycologist.

[AntsLuxembourg]

There is a company that makes lunar and martian analog soil. I am using some in a research study now using mushrooms to digest plastic and fertilize martian regolith. I was just thinking about my next research since I am quickly learning I am not a mycologist.

Well I would say you can give it a try but of course it would not be an exact and proper simulation. It would be more like an attempted simulation due to the substitute for the real martian soil.

Btw I will keep removing that like if you post it. I don't mind if you mention the company but I'm not sure about the link so I'd rather not have it on the forum to avoid issues.

[pyro4jesus]

Its just like living in a lunar habitat here on earth can't be an exact simulation. That is the purpose of the analog experiments we do here on earth. We try to get as close as we can with what we have. I'll be growing mushrooms in Martian simulated regolith to see how they fertilize the soil. We are currently planning an expedition to the Martian Society's habitat and another to the ILMAH and I am trying to come up with research for this mission and ants in Martian or lunar regolith would be a good paring with my current research. I can imagine a time when we send ants and fungus ahead of humans to help turn the regolith into soil under a 3d printed greenhouse dome. The ILMAH already has robots to assist with greenhouse operation. So we could already have plants growing before even setting foot on another world again.