Astronauts may be able to grow their own food on Mars – Read what the ‘secret’ ingredient is

In the movie “The Martian”, the stranded astronaut played by Matt Damon managed to stay alive with the help of an unpleasant ingredient: the waste left behind by the crew members. But real astronauts could grow their own food with the help of a more pleasant ingredient: alfalfa, according to research published in the journal PLOS One.

Alfalfa may not be well known, but it is a food that could be classified as a superfood, as it has many health benefits. It is actually a type of clover, native to Asia, with its sprouts being an excellent source of vitamins C and K, folate and manganese. It also contains fiber and protein.

The experiment was the brainchild of 19-year-old Pooja Kasiviswanathan, who was a high school sophomore when she began her research into developing food systems on Mars. Today, a third-year microbiology student at Iowa State University, she continued her exploration and came to these interesting conclusions.

With funding from Vijayapalani Paramasivan, a scientist at ISU, he investigated, among other things, how turnips grow in simulated Martian soil, derived from volcanoes, compared to normal garden soil.

“The main idea behind this project is to be able to integrate two simulated conditions on Mars, analyze the effect of those conditions on plant growth and provide treatments for their sustainable growth,” Kasiviswanathan told Forbes.

This isn’t the first time scientists have simulated Martian soil to try to grow food. A paper published in 2019 described 10 different plants (quinoa, radish, cardamom, leek, tomato, rye, pea, spinach, chives and arugula) grown in soil that mimicked the soil on Mars and the Moon. The work in question found that all but one plant showed significant growth (spinach did not).

During a 2017 study by the International Potato Center, in collaboration with NASA’s Ames Research Center, researchers tested whether potatoes could be grown in simulated conditions like on Mars. The experiment was successful.

However, not all space researchers believe that the effort to grow agricultural products on the soil of Mars will be completely successful. According to Kevin Cannon, assistant professor of Geology and Geological Engineering-Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines, ISU’s research may be behind the times. “Food production in space will mainly involve chemical engineering and cellular agriculture, and plants may have more of an aesthetic and psychological role,” he notes.

Of course, that doesn’t deter Kasiviswanathan, who says she has plans to keep pushing the boundaries of what this project can take. For the future, he wants to test different simulated conditions, as well as new crops such as beans and grains.

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