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In other words, the secret to having a viable sealed terrarium is in the compost. Get the right compost, with the right population of bacteria, and the whole th
by Pitarou 12y ago
In other words, the secret to having a viable sealed terrarium is in the compost. Get the right compost, with the right population of bacteria, and the whole thing will run forever.
- DanBC 12y agoI am interested in the idea of synthetic soils. Arriving on Mars and creating the right mix of sand, silt, and clay is easy enough. But it's the organic matter and biomass that makes soil what it is. Research on this might also have impacts on some parts of developing world where soil quity can be very poor. (Although that's often because anything that could go into the ground to improve soil has other uses).
- zokier 12y agoOne idea I've toyed with is building a "terrarium" (marsium?) with Mars imitation soil and atmosphere, and attempt to bootstrap some life in there.
- tachyonbeam 12y agoI would imagine that some amount of adaptation will happen automatically. You have many kinds of bacteria in your compost, and the proportions will automatically adjust after the sealed ecosystem has been running for a while. Some strains might completely die off if they can't get the chemicals they need.