Description
Soil processors are terraforming tools used to make regolith or alien soil amenable to agriculture. Usually built into a mobile platform, such as a large truck, and paired with earth moving equipment, soil processors go from site to site, producing usable soil. Some soil processors are stationary production plants, but these are the exceptions to the rule.
The first stage of the soil processor consists of a rock crusher that breaks stones into small enough pieces for the process to continue. The second stage of soil processing sends the soil through a tumbler with microbial cultures added. This stage takes the edges off of sharp-edged fragments, aerates the soil, and starts the growth of beneficial microbes. After the tumbler, the soil spends a certain amount of time fermenting in a bioreactor, where it is stirred together with engineered algae, fungi and other living agents, such as worms and insects. After the bioreactor is done, the soil goes through one more aeration stage before being returned to the ground.
The whole process can take between a week and several months depending on what kind of soil is being processed, and for what use.
Soil processing operations on Shoji circa GSC 215
