Growing Food on Mars

Explore How Regolith—the Ground Cover of Mars—Can be Used to Grow Food

 

To be able to live on Mars, humans need breathable air, clean water, and nutritious food. A manned trip to Mars would require food that was either successfully grown in space or on Mars. In this course, students will explore how regolith—the ground cover of Mars—can be used to grow food. Students will design food experiments on Mars regolith incorporating hydroponics, which is growing edible plants in water instead of soil. In addition, students will use the scientific method to describe their experiments and present their results upon completion.

What You Will Learn

Humans need breathable air, clean water, and nutritious food. Learn how regolith can be relied upon to grow food to help humans live on Mars.

• Investigate the soil on Mars as it pertains to growing food
• Design experiments using the scientific method
• Experiment on regolith to determine if food can be grown safely

Return to the Sally Ride Science Junior Academy website here.

Note: Upon successful enrollment of a section, students will receive a confirmation email from our Student Services team. This email will include a link to an authorization form that is required to be completed within 72-hours of enrollment. 

In response to COVID-19 health guidelines, we have restructured our in-person Junior Academy workshops as
online courses. Contact us at srs@ucsd.edu if you have questions.

Course Number: MAE-90002
Credit: 1.50 unit(s)