Making Mars A Vegetable Garden

[seanooi 0]

I've just came across this article from CNN.com and it says that NASA is attempting to make vegetables grow on Mars. Sound kinda impossible but hey, nothing's impossible.
here's a link to it.
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[assafassaf 0]

Good idea to test Mars! I hope that they will succeed and we will enjoy eating Mars-ian vegetables! Do you think they will have strange taste?

[LoveAurora 0]

I don't think they're actually growing them ON Mars, but it would be cool if they could. I'd totally buy some Mars produce

[fusionx 0]

They havn't even gone to mars yet let alone grow anything. Maybe they should get someone to land there and see mars for itself, then try differant things such as growing plants, living there and doing all differant types of research.Anyway it's best to see their results and to see what they come up with...

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

This article never claimed that they are growing plants on Mars; it is just saying that, in order to establish a colony on Mars, they will need to.Plants, from what I've read, CAN grow on Mars (at least in theory), since it's soil is fairly fertile, there is pleanty of water (frozen), the air is thick enough for plants and has enough carbon dioxide to support them. The only problem is the extreme cold, but if one builds a greenhouse of sorts, that may be able to be at least partially remedied.

[Plenoptic 0]

Like Cebral said they could maybe grow them on Mars but that isn't what they said they were going to do. I would like to see if they could grow them on mars. I bet they could grow apple trees during part of the year there. I would like to see what different types of plants they could grow if any at all. It would take a lot of work and experimenting to get them started. It would help astronauts out a bit giving them more area to produce more food. I don't think it would taste much different except maybe because it absorbs different tasting water maybe with different chemicals. It would take a lot of expermienting.

[FLaKes 0]

Cool, alien vegetables. I wonder where they are going to get enough oxygen for 3 years. What if they get sick from some of the parasites that inhabit there? Wow, I didnt say that. I hope they dont because Im really excited about mankind finally stepping in to another planet. I wish I couldve been a member of that crew.

[Arigato 0]

I hope it works out. If this is to work then it would be possible to send a man to mars and sustain him there if the food that could be grown is editable. You would also be able to provide the oxygen that is needed to keep a human alive. It will be very interesting to see how this is going to work out.

[Razor 0]

I hope it works out. If this is to work then it would be possible to send a man to mars and sustain him there if the food that could be grown is editable. You would also be able to provide the oxygen that is needed to keep a human alive. It will be very interesting to see how this is going to work out.

208595[/snapback]

..Perhaps if they end up with a barrier...(to keep oxygen from floating away)...the plants could be doing the providing of oxygen..as we all know they take in the CO2 ..and oxygen is made..but that wil need alot of plants for vegitation to provide oxygen alone ...mabye if they can make some sort of atmosphere ...or somthing like in that arnold shwazznegger movie "total recall" .

[Gyad 0]

That would be really disturbing and cool at the same time. But how exactly are they going to plant the vegetables in the first place? Wouldn't it be hard to plant them? I don't suppose the robots can plant them, but then again, anything is possible.

[Angel 0]

I hope this is possible to grow plants on Mars since the planet would then gain oxygen and then people can move to Mars The problem with Earth's resources becoming too little would also be somewhat solved.

[steverm3 0]

wow interesting! I wonder who owns Mars.. I'm actually responding to this to give anyone an FYI about the posted link - it doesnt work anymore.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

Actually, Dennis Hope claims ownership of Mars (as well as all other lunar and planetary bodies in our solar system, in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty, from which he exploited a loophole and now supposedly owns everything outside of Earth - read more here), but if you can't decide upon a present to your parents for their birthday, you could buy them a few acres of fertile farmland on Martian soil at this website that they can legally call their own. Atmosphere sold seperately.

[serverph 0]

nice piece of research there, cerebral. dennis hope should realize that "claim of ownership" does not constitute "real ownership". if he were a martian to begin with and just migrated to earth, then i would think his claim can hold water. lolz! there's also the thing about a paper trail to cover his claim. unless the documentation he has is manufactured from mars, duly-notarized by a court of good standing in mars, then he has no legal premise of laying claim over mars. and if he were indeed martian (we should check his DNA profile ), we should also question his EARTH VISA. he may be an illegal alien, and his earth visa may have expired already, so he must not be allowed to do business on earth any longer. he should be deported back to mars.

anyway, just making fun of the situation. on to the topic, edible food and breathable air and potable water are the primary considerations in making possible human interplanetary exploration. we could be exporting earth soil first to mars to make it an immediate reality in the future -- and tons and tons of earth soil for that matter. working on martian soil, with the earth plants man intends to grow there, could pose mutation problems. and after martian food intake, who knows what may happen? a human mutation could not be far.

the best solution is to make mars earth-like. let's just imagine mars as a big chunk of acreage we need to fully reclaim by inducing it to function as near as possible to earth's pristine condition. living off mars the way it is will not be suitable to us, humans.

[Goosestaf 0]

mmmm interesting. . . i suppose it is possible, and could be useful, BUT theres only 2 reasons for growing vegtables on mars. . .1 . to create food to supposrt life on marsor2 . to create food for earth.1) Its goign to take a hell of alot more than just a vegtable garden to sustain human lfie on mars lol2) the cost and time of the travel would out weigh the cost of selling the vegtables :PIts all very nice IN THEORY, but thats all it is