PARIS: The team of science students have created a plan to land lettuce on Mars. The project, being run at the University of Southampton, aims to put the first life on Mars by growing the salad vegetable in a greenhouse which will use the atmosphere and sunlight to help it grow.
Marketing their plan as LettuceOnMars, a group of seven students from the University of Southampton Spaceflight Society have designed a greenhouse that could travel with the Mars One lander in 2018 and grow lettuce on the planet’s surface.
On their website, the group says they chose lettuce for several reasons: it’s edible, space-efficient, has durable seeds and is already cultivated in space.
NASA’s “VEGGIE” program has successfully grown lettuce on the ISS using pink LED lamps.
#LettuceOnMars and nine other groups are vying for the final spot, having already made it through one round of cuts. The other groups include a plan to send cyanobacteria with the lander and to germinate seeds on Mars.
Per the Lettuce group’s plan, any food grown on Mars will be destroyed after it’s cultivated to prevent contamination of the planet’s surface.
In late December, members of the group took to Reddit to answer questions about the project and generate publicity. The most vital question — Iceberg or Romaine? — remains unanswered.
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