Soil Made From Inorganic Extraterrestrial Regolith Combined With Organic Byproducts From a Semi-Closed Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS)

R.J. Soilleux. (2021), JBIS, 74, pp.21-29

Refcode: 2021.74.21

Abstract:

A brief description of the complex nature of fertile soil is followed by a discussion of how it might be made from extraterrestrial materials. The natural soil recycling processes that utilize organic matter and the associated biota to feed plants are robust and self-regulating. Although it is possible to bypass these natural systems and provide for a plant’s needs directly, such methods are fragile and rely on constant monitoring and adjustment with expensive chemical products. It is likely that a mature large-scale space farm would combine aquaponics and soil-based agroforestry to maximize the amount and variety of food and other products obtainable from the limited growing space available. Surplus biomass from food production, composted and mixed with imported ground rock, could generate fertile topsoil although carbon sequestered in the process releases excess oxygen which must be removed. These sequestered nutrients could be replaced as water and CO2 and it will probably be necessary to import some nitrogen.