NASA expert details on space farming; answers what astronauts would eat on Moon & Mars

Space farming would be an extremely important aspect of establishing a sustained human presence beyond the low-Earth orbit (LEO), on the Moon and Mars for starters. To make that happen, scientists and astronauts have spent years trying to cultivate crops across different species aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Recently, a NASA postdoc fellow at the Kennedy Space Center, Dr. Christina Johnson, informed about the developments in space farming so far and also revealed what crops astronauts would grow on Mars. 

What would we eat on Mars?

In the latest episode of NASA's Gravity Assist podcast, Johnson said that the plants most likely to be grown on Mars would be the staple ones, which are consumed regularly and form a major part of a person's diet. "Maybe we're talking about the rice and the potatoes and the sweet potatoes", she said as per the podcast's transcript. "Sweet potatoes are one of my favorites because you can eat the leaves, too – the young leaves, which are really tasty". Further mentioning her work on ginger floral development she said that ginger is great and "we should definitely have it on Mars". 

(Christina Johnson works on plants in her laboratory at Kennedy Space Center; Image: Twitter/@ISS_Research)

According to Johnson, mizuna, a mustard plant, is one of the "workhorse plants" that has grown really well in space. Additionally, red romaine lettuce is another plant that grows well in space and tastes good too as they have a neutral flavour, the expert said. "The astronauts can eat them right away. We call them “pick and eat” crops. They don't have to do any preparation", she said. The latest breakthrough in space farming came late last year when astronauts were able to grow chili pepper on the space station under the Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment.

Challenges of space farming

The NASA expert also underscored the challenges that emerge in the area of space farming. She said that the lack of gravity, good airflow, and the appropriate amount of sunlight pose the major challenges in space farming and these are the must-have conditions that astronauts need to ensure during crop cultivation. She further opined that for food security on the Moon, we would need supplemental food which would be regularly delivered from Earth. "It's expensive. It's hard. But it's not impossible", she said and as for Mars, growing staple crops would be the best option. This is because a months-long one-way trip to Mars would degrade the vitamins and overall quality of the food being transported.