Potatoes can grow on Mars even without Matt Damon

Experiments, conducted by International Potato Center (CIP) with the advice of NASA ARC, show that potatoes can grow under Mars atmosperic conditions. Report about these experiments was published on phys.org website. 

Simulated Mars potatoes growing farm is quite unlike those in The Martian movie:

Image:  20th Century Fox 

Says Julio Valdivia-Silva, a research associate with the SETI Institute: 

Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment. If the crops can tolerate the extreme conditions that we are exposing them to in our CubeSat, they have a good chance to grow on Mars. We will do several rounds of experiments to find out which potato varieties do best. We want to know what the minimum conditions are that a potato needs to survive

The experiment was conducted in a specially constructed container of CubeSat form-factor with dry, salted soil, brought from the Pampas de La Joya desert in Southern Peru. This soil is close analog of  martian samples, analyzed by rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. 

All installation was set at  University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima, Peru,  the country with the greatest diversity of potatoes in the world, with some 3,800 types, differing in size, shape, color, skin, pulp, texture and taste.

Chris McKay of NASA ARC:

We have been looking at the very dry soils found in the southern Peruvian desert. These are the most Mars-like soils found on Earth.

For plant nutrition, some fertilizers were added (interesting, was it Matt Damon, who provided these nutrients? ;))  Container was germetically sealed and inside Martian atmospheric, climate, light and temperature conditions were simulated. The experiment started on February, 14, 2016 when a tuber was planted in the CubeSat. During the experiment only water, enriched by nutrients, was delivered inside.

Image: CIP

This is timpelapse video, of potato, sprouting on simulated Mars:

CIP Potato breeder Walter Amoros noted that

...whatever their implications for Mars missions, the experiments have already provided good news about potato's potential for helping people survive in extreme environments on Earth.

For further reading: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-indicators-potatoes-mars.html

                                      https://phys.org/news/2016-02-nasa-simulate-potatoes-mars-peru.html