Sophie's Blog


Getting Food on Mars

Being able to live on Mars is now known as the next step of space exploration however living on Mars has many different issues. Solutions have to be found to these issues in order to make living on Mars possible for humans. One issue is food on Mars, since there is no oxygen on mars but only Carbon Dioxide there is no natural food possibilities on Mars. This problem has to be solved to make living on Mars possible since food is  fundamental to allow humans to live and without it we would die.

A possible solution to this issue is photosynthesis. Plants can be planted on Mars in order to create photosynthesis.  Since the products of photosynthesis are glucose and oxygen they will allow animals( to create meat) and more plants( for crops) to develop on Mars. In order to allow the chemical reaction, photosynthesis on Mars to happen the reactants light and chlorophyll will be needed. Chlorophyll will be gathered through planting plants on Mars which has been proven to be possible through testing on Martian soil however a dome for oxygen and protection from the sun radiation will be needed. Light will be gathered naturally on Mars since light waves reach Mars. Since all these products can be found photosynthesis can be possible on Mars in order to create a sustainable food source. However an issue with this solution is economical since it is expensive to create, transport ,build and maintain the domes in which the plants can grow properly and of course eventually the transportation of the animals.

Another possible solution is to transport food from Earth to Mars. Astronaut food can be brought from earth since this food is specially made to be able to not react badly to the outer space conditions. However this solution has some environmental and economic issues. The fabrication of the astronaut food is expensive and it costs high amounts of money to create extra space for the large amount of astronaut food that has to be transported by a spaceship. Also since the astronaut food is not sustainable (it won’t last forever) regular transportations of food need to be made to ensure that there is always enough food supply on mars which will cost large amounts of money. The environmental issue is caused since the astronaut meals are not good for the health of the people who will be living on Mars. The astronaut meals consist of the same foods over and over again.  Research has shown that when a person eats the same food repeatedly they  naturally start to not eat as much. Less food weakens the body and having a weak body in space can be highly dangerous to one’s health. Also since all food is packaged heavily to cope under the conditions on Mars a lot of waste is created by using these foods. Getting rid of this waste can harm the ecosystem on Mars since the waste might be burned or littered in some way.

The astronaut food is expensive and not sustainable whilst photosynthesis is sustainable and it can provide food for a very long time after starting the process. Even though this process is expensive it would still be cheaper since their is only a need to spend money for maintenance and in the beginning whilst for astronaut food money will be necessary constantly on a regular basis since it is not a sustainable solution (new food has to be transported to Mars regularly). The astronaut food  also has the possibility of weakening the people in space whilst photosynthesis can create similar food to the food on Earth that keeps humans healthy and fit. Overall out of these two solutions photosynthesis is  better since it is slightly less expensive, better for the humans, not as harming for the ecosystem on Mars and more sustainible.



Bliss, Laura. “How Will We Eat Once We’ve Colonized Mars?” CityLab. The Atlantic, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 13 June 2016.

Epstein, Eli. “How Scientists Plan to Farm on Mars.” Mashable. Mashable Inc., 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 June 2016.


Unit Sheet Vocabulary Words Used (in bold in the text) :







21verschoofs • June 13, 2016

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  1. Eri June 16, 2016 - 1:29 am Reply

    Hi Sophie, I love your blogpost! It is very easy to understand and all the problems & solutions are stated clearly and you have good sources as well! I think it is great!

  2. 21hartmank June 16, 2016 - 1:34 am Reply

    I think that Ms. Kaufman and I would give you an 8. Nice and descriptive.

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