Farming Mars

The prospect of conquering the dark and vast expanse of space has fascinated the human mind for a good part of the last century. Perhaps that is why ‘The Martian,’ a film adaptation of Andy Weir’s book about one man’s struggle to survive on Mars, rocketed to the number one spot at the box office this weekend.

In the movie, Matt Damon’s character realizes he doesn’t have enough food to survive the next possible human visitation four years in the future and is forced to recognize he might starve to death. Luckily, he’s a botanist and soon figures out a way to grow potatoes using martian soil and his own feces.

Space farming, though a fictionalized scenario in the movie, is actually happening already, according to Bruce Bugbee. The director of the plants, soils and climate department at Utah State University has been working alongside NASA for the last decade to grow plants in space.

“What we have focused on is just growing a few salad crops. Growing some lettuce, growing some radishes and they help to recycle the water,” Bugbee told TechCrunch.

Bugbee recently saw his project come to fruition on the International Space Station. The six astronauts on board were not only able to harvest crops this August but also were the first humans in space to consume them, according to a post on NASA.gov.

Space lettuce growing in the lab, courtesy of Bruce Bugbee, Ph.D., director of the plants, soils and climate department at Utah State University.

The book and the movie follow pretty close to the actual science involved in space farming, according to Bugbee – with a few nuanced but important differences. 

For one, the soil on Mars is far too rich in iron oxides (what gives Mars its reddish color) and would be difficult to grow much. Bugbee’s process forgoes the need for martian dirt and feces in favor of hydroponics and recycled water.      Read More: