Could you grow plants from nothing (or very little) using hydoponics?

If you arrive at a distant planet you mean to colonise, without enough food for the long term - just maybe a couple of plants and a bunch of seeds and enough food in storage to keep you going for the time being, could you develop that into a farm to feed a large population over time using hydroponics, or any other real / theoretical / hypothetical methods?

(How large doesn't matter, it's the possibility of expansion that I'm asking about)

The planet doesn't have much in the way of organic material or soil, it's a rocky and icy wasteland (It does have water and oxygen).

If not, what is the minimum of other basic chemicals / elements that could hopefully be extracted from the planet that would be required?

posted about 8 years ago

colmde‭

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