In the Hollywood science fiction movie "The Martian," the astronaut stranded on the Red Planet lives on potatoes he grows there for more than 500 days while awaiting rescue.
在好萊塢科幻片《火星救援》當(dāng)中，著陸在火星上的宇航員在等待救援的同時，他還吃了500余天的自己種植的土豆。
But will potatoes really grow on Mars one day? Although humans haven’t set foot on Mars, astronauts have tasted lettuce grown on the International Space Station.
但是真的有一天能夠在火星上種植土豆嗎?雖然人類尚未踏上火星，宇航員們已經(jīng)品嘗過了在國際空間站生長的萵筍。
On Tiangong-2, China’s first space lab which was launched in September, an experiment is underway to grow rice and Arabidopsis thaliana.
在天宮二號(于9月份發(fā)射的中國首個太空實驗室)上，種植水稻和擬南芥的實驗正在進(jìn)行當(dāng)中。
Chinese scientists hope the plants will go through the whole cycle, from seed to seed.
中國的科學(xué)家們希望這些植物將經(jīng)歷所有環(huán)節(jié)，從播種到結(jié)實。
Scientists are eager to know whether plants in space still blossom according to an Earth-based cycle, and yield the same seeds.
科學(xué)家們渴望知道太空中的植物是否會依照地球上的環(huán)節(jié)仍舊開花結(jié)果。
"We want to study the growth rhythm and the flowering of plants in micro-gravity conditions," says Zheng Huiqiong, chief scientist in charge of plant research on Tiangong-2, and a researcher with the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
中國科學(xué)院(CAS)上海生命科學(xué)研究院植物生理生態(tài)研究所首席科學(xué)家鄭慧瓊表示：“我們想要研究生長節(jié)律以及在微重力條件下植物的開花情況?！? "So far, the plants on Tiangong-2 have been growing well. Some Arabidopsis thaliana are blooming, and the rice is about 10 centimeters tall," Zheng says.
她說道：“到目前為止，天宮二號上的植物生長得很好。一些擬南芥正在開花，水稻約10厘米高了?！? "We cannot avoid the issue of growing crops and vegetables, if we want to live on Mars. Only when we grow plants well in space, can we go deeper into space," Zheng says.
她說道：“如果我們想要在火星上生活的話，我們就無法避免種植水稻和蔬菜的問題。只有當(dāng)能夠在太空種植植物時，我們才能夠更加深入太空?！? "If we can conduct research on Mars, potatoes are a good choice. We could also try growing tomatoes, cucumbers, rice and wheat," Zheng says.
她說道：“如果我們要在火星上展開研究，土豆是個不錯的選擇。我們還可以嘗試種植西紅柿、黃瓜、水稻和小麥。”