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Spinoff story
The Martian Garden Recreates Red Planet’s Surface
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
In 2006, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory tested dust and rocks from a basalt quarry in the Mojave Desert and found it about 93 percent similar to the surface of Mars. The center now uses the resulting Mars Mojave Simulant (MMS) to test rovers bound for the Red Planet. The Martian Garden, based in Austin, sells kits that use MMS to simulate the challenge of gardening on Mars and is also now the only remaining supplier of Mars surface simulant.