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Enceladus Farm: Can plants grow with Enceladus' water? (Preliminary Report)

Enceladus is a saturnian satellite that should have liquid water inside of it (subsurface ocean). Measurements and experiments on water plume from Enceladus have revealed that Enceladus' ocean contains several salts such as NaCl. On the Earth, salt in soil has become a serious problem for agriculture, and importance of salt-tolerant plants are indicated. In order to test the effect of Enceladus' water to terrestrial plant, by hydroponic, we tried to grow three salt-tolerant plants (ice plant, swiss chard and salicornia) simulating Enceladus' water (Enceladus Farm project). Using water with 0.33% NaCl and 0.4% NaHCO$_3$, which is consistent with the observations of Enceladus, all plants could grow if they were germinated and grown with pure water until each plant had a few leaves. However, growth rate can be suppressed compared with the plants cultivated with pure water. Because our first test was performed with loose conditions, more works are needed to evaluate the effect of Enceladus' water to plant growth. However, in addition to the works to grow plants on lunar and martian grounds, Enceladus' water may be used to consider properties of plant from wider environment.