Plants that Survive in Near Vaccum Environment

[Newfie]

I was wondering if anyone knew of any plants that could survive in a near vacuum environment? Im not what sure plants to even start, but if anyone could point me in the right direction to find such plants.

[Sisyphus]

Colonizing Mars?

 

Anyway, I don't think any exist. There aren't any plants which have evolved in any pressure less than high altitude mountains and such on Earth, and so I'd imagine they couldn't do with much less than that without suffocating.

[silkworm]

I'd like to point out that Mars is by no stretch of the imagination a vacuum.

 

Next, plants need carbon dioxide to survive. Them without CO2 is like us living with our mothers until the day we die. In a vacuum you'd eliminate all the gas including the CO2 and the plants would be done. A guess a good question would be what plant needs the least CO2 to survive. But, if you are looking to "colonize Mars" AKA use plants to put oxygen in places where there are no CO2, they will not help you. The less CO2 consumed, the less oxygen produced. Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It's a pretty solid law.

[Sisyphus]

I'd like to point out that Mars is by no stretch of the imagination a vacuum.

 

 

But it is a near vacuum when compared to Earth.

[ecoli]

But it is a near vacuum when compared to Earth.

 

Are you sure? I thought there was a lot of CO2 there.

[Sisyphus]

There is, compared to Earth. But the total air pressure is about 1% of that of Earth.

 

Look here:

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Mars/atmosphere.html

[Airmid]

Lichens have been taken to the International Space Station and exposed to the space environment, and they survived. Of course lichens aren't exactly plants, and they couldn't grow in space, but they managed to keep their cells intact after being exposed for 14 days, and were able to grow again when back on earth. Here you can find a bit more information about the experiment.

 

NASA and others are working on the possibility of growing crop plants under Martian conditions. I don't think they have been successful yet. They are able to grow some plants at reduced atmospheric pressure, but nowhere near Martian conditions. This article describes some of the problems they encountered.

 

Airmid.