What would you eat on Mars?
The flank of Husband Hill inside the Gusev Crater on Mars. This false-color view was assembled from frames taken by the panoramic camera of the Mars Exploration Rover called Spirit on the rover's 454th martian day (April 13, 2005).
Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
See a larger version of this image.
Mealtime on the Red Planet might be a critical part of future space missions.
According to NASA, astronauts will be able to grow crops and cook their own vegetarian meals on future missions to Mars.
To find out what future Martian astronauts might eat, Earth & Sky spoke to Kim Binstead, chief scientist and lead chef on the 2007 Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station mission – or FMARS mission – which simulated the experience of living on Mars for 100 days.
Dr. Binstead said the crew – stationed in the Arctic for the summer of 2007 – had the same ingredients you’d have on Mars – food with a long shelf life – plus a small indoor garden.
She even shared one of her recipes: TVP sweet and sour meatballs. That’s textured vegetable protein shaped into balls and fried with teriyaki sauce, canned pineapple, and some other spices, all over fried rice with sprouts. Sound yummy?
Binstead said more important than the taste of the food was the social aspect. Each night the crew gathered together to eat and talk. It was a way to enjoy normal, human rituals in an unfamiliar environment – in this case, a simulated Mars mission in the Arctic – but ultimately on Mars.
Our thanks to:
Kim Binstead
Chief Scientist on FMARS mission
Associate Professor, Information and Computer Sciences Department
Co-Investigator, UH-NASA Astrobiology Institute
University of Hawai’i at Manoa
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How long would it take to get to mars and back?
False color views? What does that mean?
I have alot to ask, could you cover the MRSGREN for life on Mars? I need it for a project because i am iventing an alien but, no other websites cover it apart from u thanks
maeve,what a fun project.i wish i was in school with such an inventive teacher. i wish i could provide you with help but it takes years of study in astrophysics and an understanding of chemistry to answer. i would suggest reading a piece by (i believe, richard feynman) on reverse sugar molecules, or left handed molecules to help you along. even on earth shells with mollusks such as a whelk have right and sometimes left handed sworls. or they build their shells left handed or right handed. im no scholar but reading about the facts of right hand and left hand in physics could allow you to attain a greater understanding of life than i have. good luck and bless you for visiting this site
I hope we don’t send humans to Mars anytime soon, as it would be a colossal waste of money. At its closest Mars is about 34,000,000 miles from Earth. That’s 136 times as far as the moon (250,000 miles). I say we work on developing space in our own front yard first… Let’s build more space stations and have a growing colony on the moon before we even think about sending people to Mars. If we can build the spacecraft in orbit (mining raw materials from asteroids?) it would be much more feasible to launch a manned Mars mission. I support space exploration, but in balance with taking care of things at home. If we were to launch a manned Mars mission from Earth, it would be “Whitey on the Moon” times a thousand.
whitey on the moon? anyone on the moon is a step forward but to make it racial is simply and plainly stupid.
Great response, sam. Whitey on the Moon made some very important points. I made a few points, too, all of which apparently flew right over your head. How about trying to contribute to a discussion here, instead of basing your useless response on an absurdly narrow and flawed interpretation of my analogy?
you are correct mason, your comment whitey on the moon was in fact lost on me. as far as mining asteroids go at this time its impossible. first you would need spacecraft to capture them. all tech advancement and many many useful items came from our rush to the moon. an attempt at mars would quickly produce advancements in many ways that would be applicable to life on earth. without dreams and goals in engineering and astrophysics things remain stale and everyone gets to complain about conditions here on earth.idle speculation about why something should not be done is just noise.advancement in our own evolution, and progress will only come about by the drive and dreams of the 5% that have higher education than marketing or simple computer skills.
THE QUESTiON WAS WAT WOULD YOO EAT OAN MOON, NOT MARS, DO YOO KNOW ANYFiNG ABOUT THE MOON?
I wish I could open a burger francise on Mars and sell a burger to whatever LGM or Human or Klingon that comes by.
NASA doesnt get that much money. I read they only get 12 bill a year. Besides they invent new tings to help us.
i am trying to do my h/w about mars and i can’t find anything!!
i have to imagine i am an estate agent and i am tryin to sell a house on mars! i have to research and say good points and bad points about living on mars and if there is any special adaptations the house may have to adapt to the planet!
so if you have any answers to help me to this h/w can u plz help me!!
Sophx
Mars Bars…yum.
My stars, how does “Mars” make such wonderful candy bars?