Background Information

The first astronauts to land on Mars will be required to live on the planet from 15 to 18 months. This is because the Earth and Mars must be correctly aligned in their orbits to allow a flight back to the Earth.

While the astronauts are waiting on Mars for the Earth to move along its orbit to the correct location for a return flight, the astronauts will carry out numerous exploration and research tasks.

Carrying enough pre-packaged food for an entire mission poses some challenges. The possibility of growing some of their required food on Mars offers a possible solution. Deciding which foods to grow is problematic.

Foods that grow quickly and easily are obvious choices, but one cannot eat a constant diet of radishes. Similarly, food high in energy content is important, but one cannot wait for 6 months for the crop to mature. And to complicate matters further, huge crops that cannot be adequately stored will waste valuable food due to spoilage.

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.