Manage
Ecosystem to Purify the Atmosphere and Build Soil
How to Colonize an Asteroid
Manage
Ecosystem to Purify the Atmosphere and Build Soil
The algae sludge from the ponds will only be the first step toward building the soil. The colonists will then have to start planting small pockets of vegetation to further increase the depth and quality of the topsoil.
Plants, such as Sumac or Willow, which grow very fast and die will have this very important job. The more diversity, or variety, of plants and animals the better, as different organisms have varying abilities and survival rates. A good organic soil is actually a mass of decayed plants and animal droppings, mixed with a collection of minerals. As the number of plants which can survive inside the colony increases, the atmospheric balance can be fine tuned and higher organisms such as insects and rodents can be released.
The biologists will have to carefully monitor all aspects of the evolving ecosystem in the colony and balance it to the point where humans can live without space suits. Even though man has never created an enclosed ecosystem of this size, most research seems to indicate that larger systems are eaisier to balance.
