The food systems that will feed Mars could transform food on Earth

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2023-01-24 19:30:22

January 24, 2023

Could we feed a city on Mars? This question is central to the future of space exploration and has serious repercussions on Earth too. To date, a lot of thought has gone into how astronauts eat; however, we are only beginning to produce food in space.

Space launches are quite expensive. And with the growing desire to establish a human presence in space, we are going to have to consider food production in space. But the challenges are vast, requiring research into how plants respond to a variety of changes including to gravity and radiation.

As food and agriculture researchers, we explored this question in our latest book, Dinner on Mars. We believe that a sustainable Martian food system is possible—and that in building it, we'll change food systems on Earth. However, this will take some out-of-the-box thinking. Martian agriculture