The possibilities of the exploration of space are both exciting and challenging. The opportunity to not only visit other planets but also to colonize them, is perhaps the most daring challenge ever undertaken by the human race.
Human exploration of space has the potential to enrich our knowledge, and provide us with resources to enrich the lives of every person on planet Earth.
Several things will be required in order to accomplish this amazing feat. It will begin with small steps. We have already reached the Moon, and the next steps will involve actually inhabiting the Moon, growing plants there and then proceeding to land humans on the planet Mars. We have already landed robots on Mars and Canadians have had a major role to play in this venture.
The big difference between travelling to the Moon and travelling to Mars is the distance, and hence the duration of the mission.
The technical difficulties associated with travelling to Mars will not be the biggest challenge. The ability to provide sufficient food and air for the inhabitants of the space vehicle will be among the major challenges! It is the area of human survival in space that is least understood. Human survival in space is an extremely broad field of research to which your class can contribute in an important way ... here's how. A typical mission to Mars would require enough materials and food to last the crew between two and three years. Although food can be dehydrated and reconstituted with water, some of the physical needs of the crew must be satisfied by growing crops, such as tomatoes.
Growing plants for food during the mission has the potential to satisfy important physical and physiological needs of the crew.
As anyone who has experienced a Canadian winter knows, long term confinement, isolation, restricted personal space, boredom, and the absolute predictability of everyday events is stressful. Studies have shown that growing plants and caring for other living things (e.g. pets) can reduce this psychological stress.
The care and nurture of living things alleviates boredom, provides an essential element of unpredictability or uncertainty in the outcome, provides a changing view of one's surroundings, and offers a sense of Nature in an otherwise mechanical environment.
For 2011, teachers will receive two packages of seeds for each class registered. The packages are labeled ”M” and “D”. Each package will contain approximately 40 seeds; the seeds are packaged by weight and there could be a variance of +/-5.
One package of seeds is a control group and the other is the "treatment" group. The treatment group of Tomatosphere seeds was subjected to a simulated space environment at the University of Guelph for a 3-month time period. The simulation approximates what might happen to the seeds if there was a breach in the storage system on a vehicle (with astronauts) going to Mars for the first time. While on Mars, astronauts will have to grow some of their own food. The tomato may be a candidate for a “farm on Mars”.
You are receiving 40 seeds per package this year. You may plant as many as are possible for the space you have; we suggest a MINIMUM of 25. Some (5 – 10) from each group could be germinate using “growing spheres” which are are small polymers that have a strong affinity for water – like a sponge absorbing water. They swell to about 300 times their size. They are invisible in water and can be used to “view” the germination process (which students cannot see when they are in the peat pots). Go to the section in the Teacher Resources - Growing Spheres for more information
Here is the “storyline” that you can use with your students as they begin their Tomatosphere experiment.
We are on the way to Mars and a sensor indicates some kind of problem with a storage system on the outside of the space vehicle. The problem is investigated by an astronaut on a “spacewalk” – an extravehicular activity or EVA – who indeed finds there is a problem with the storage system. Over the next few weeks, plans are made on Earth to fix the problem and an astronaut conducts another EVA to fix the problem. However, some time has passed and the seeds have been exposed to extremely cold temperatures (-90oC),and very low atmospheric pressure (almost a vacuum). The problem with the storage system is fixed – BUT, HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE SEEDS THAT WE WILL USE TO GROW TOMATOES ONCE WE GET TO THE SURFACE OF MARS?
Your class can provide scientists and mission planners with critical information by performing this scientific investigation.
During the Tomatosphere experiment you will be asked to germinate seeds from two sources, and to report your results online at the end of the experiment (click here to submit your results online). This experiment is conducted using seeds labeled "M" and "N". When you send in your results to the tomatosphere website, you will be informed about the origin of the two types of seeds.
You will receive approximately 40 seeds in each envelope. So, for every class registered, you will receive 80 seeds.
