Background Information

The first astronauts to land on Mars will live on the planet from 15 to 18 months following a flight of 6 to 9 months. This is because the Earth and Mars must be correctly aligned in their orbits to allow a flight back to the Earth. This will also take between 6 and 9 months.  Consequently, long term space travel to Mars will probably involve a time frame of between two and three years for the first visitors.

The astronauts will carry out numerous exploration and research tasks during their time on Mars, as well as en route to and from “the red planet”.

Carrying enough pre-packaged food for an entire mission poses some challenges including the weight and volume to be stored as well as the lack of “fresh” foods. The possibility of growing some food on Mars offers a possible solution. Deciding which foods to grow is problematic. Researchers are looking for fresh foods to be grown with specific requirements including:

Why are each of these requirements important for long-term space travel?

Greenhouse protects plants from the environment on Mars

Figure 1: A Martian greenhouse will be needed to protect plants from the very hostile environment on Mars.

Notes

These activities are designed to focus on issues related to planning an adequate diet for very long duration space flights. A good diet is important for both physiological reasons (physical health) and psychological reasons (mental health). Food must not only be nutritious, but it must also be tasty.

Studies have shown that when exploration crews are well fed they are not only healthier and happier, but they also perform better, are more efficient, and are less prone to making errors in judgment.

In the long term, boring, unflavourful food (regardless of how nutritious) is a detriment to crew moral and crew efficiency. It is therefore imperative that food provided for long term space missions be flavourful as well as nutritious!

In Activity 1 students consider the problems involved in selecting suitable food for expeditions such as a trip to Mars or setting up a permanent base on the Lunar surface. Based on taste preferences, students select between two groups of fresh foods, those that have long storage lives, and those that have short storage lives.

In Activity 2 students look at processes used to prepare food for long term storage, specifically the process of dehydration. As in Activity 1, students select between two groups of foods, fresh food and its dehydrated counterpart. Is there a preference based on taste?

The Extension Activities expand the investigation to consider the essential need to provide a well balanced diet for the explorers, using Canada's Food Guide as a reference.