Could you live here?

Life will be possible for humans if there is shelter, water, oxygen, and food. These are a few of the necessities for human existence. This is true for life on Earth as well as on the "Red Planet." Living on Mars would mean taking as little as possible from Earth and counting on Martian resources to provide everything else. We will need food wherever we go, so we need to know if Martian soil will support plant growth.

To further explore the question of "Could you live here?", let's experiment with Earth soils. You will measure one characteristic of Earth soils related to their ability to support plant growth. Then you will compare your measurements with the Martian soil measurements. You will decide if there is enough information to develop a hypothesis about the ability of Martian soils to support plant growth.