The surfaces of the Moon and Mars cannot support conventional terrestrial crop growth because they lack the nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus plants need to thrive. However, a recent review in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, led by Jéssica Carneiro Oliveira, argues that beneficial fungi could offer a potential solution.
While the prospect of a self-sustaining Martian or lunar farm remains a distant goal, the authors offer a potential starting point by outlining which fungi found on Earth could potentially be tested.
The loose dust and rock covering both the Martian and lunar surfaces, known as regolith, would not support conventional agriculture since it does not contain the necessary nutrients. In their review, Oliveira and colleagues examine whether fungi could help overcome these shortages and make extraterrestrial regolith more suitable for growing crops.
Acting as an Extra Root System
On Earth, fungi are already essential for nutrient cycling, helping plants and soils access resources that would otherwise be out of reach. The review surveyed fungal species already known to improve nutrient uptake in plants, especially those that can withstand conditions such as extreme temperatures, radiation, or poor soil chemistry. The authors also examined fungi that have already been tested on the International Space Station, providing evidence of how these organisms can perform in spaceflight conditions.
Extraterrestrial regolith presents crops with significant abiotic stress in addition to severe nutrient deficiencies. Crops must cope with both nutrient deficiencies and harsh physical and chemical conditions. Certain fungi might be able to tackle both issues by helping plants access scarce resources while also improving their ability to withstand environmental stress.
The authors focus in particular on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), which form close associations with plant roots. They extend the network through which a plant can absorb nutrients, enabling it to use resources its roots alone would struggle to reach. Such assistance could be essential when raising crops in nutrient-poor regolith.
The Road to Real Regolith
The researchers also identify Trichoderma as a promising candidate because of its potential to reduce abiotic stress and help make nutrients available. Unlike AMF, which form direct associations with plant roots, Trichoderma species can support plants through several mechanisms, including helping them tolerate environmental stress and improving nutrient availability.
So far, scientists have not tested these fungal approaches on real samples of lunar or Martian regolith. The team emphasizes that future studies need to use actual extraterrestrial material, since lab substitutes may not behave the same way. If these experiments succeed, they could help create a more reliable food supply for space missions, reducing the need for constant resupply from Earth.
As the authors put it in their conclusion: “Including plant growth-promoting fungi into lunar or Martian regolith-based agriculture systems would present a strategic enhancement to space crop production and the establishment of human settlements beyond Earth. Fungi such as Trichoderma and the various AMF (Glomeromycota) stand out for their ability to relieve abiotic stresses, mobilize essential nutrients, and potentially improve the physicochemical structure of regolith substrates.
These microorganisms offer a promising biotechnological tool to transform the regolith environment (inorganic composition) and positively impact the engineered microbiome introduced to inhospitable substrates.”
Whether these solutions will work outside the lab is yet to be determined. Only experiments using real regolith, not synthetic substitutes, will be able to provide the answers.
Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.