Mars garden: Scientists grow edible plants using fertilizer made from Martian dust

German researchers have developed a system that transforms Mars-like dust and carbon dioxide into fertilizer using hardy cyanobacteria, successfully growing edible plants without Earth-based soil or nutrients. The process involves cultivating blue-green algae in simulated Martian conditions, then converting the microbial biomass into fertilizer through fermentation, with one gram of dried bacteria producing 27 grams of fresh duckweed. This closed-loop system also generates methane fuel, potentially enabling future Mars missions to become self-sustaining by producing food, oxygen, and energy from local resources.