Although the number of crops they currently produce is limited, within five years many more fruits and vegetables will be produced year-round indoors, regardless of location, helping to ensure food security.Īnd climate-friendly, cow-free dairy products are already on supermarket shelves. Today, vertical farms grow plants indoors and without sunlight in major cities around the world. Most of the technologies going into this lunch menu already exist. The accompanying milkshake is made from dairy proteins produced in specially designed fermentation facilities that use microorganisms to convert starches and sugars into dairy products. The seaweed is grown in the tanks along with the algae that went into the breakfast bar. Most of these plants are cultivated underground, safe from radiation, in an atmosphere enriched with carbon dioxide (plants generally do better when carbon dioxide levels are a bit higher than is comfortable for humans). The salad greens are grown in hydroponic solutions under LED lights that are timed to ensure each plant gets the right wavelength of light, at the right intensity, and at the right moment to optimize growth. On the menu is a leafy salad tossed with plant-based protein cubes and seasoned with salty seaweed flakes, accompanied by a milkshake. Lunch takes place in the main cafeteria where every inch of spare space is filled with greenery, because a core design principle on Mars is to ensure that every photon of solar energy is used to grow plants. Although eating algae may sound weird, many of us already consume spirulina, which is a blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) known for being highly nutritious. This high protein product would be bred to mimic the taste and texture of grains, such as oats, that are commonly found on the terrestrial breakfast table. The algae would be fertilized with both locally mined minerals and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is made of algae grown in tanks filled with water that would be harvested by melting ice found in the Martian regolith (sandy soil). The real magic, however, is in the breakfast bar. Solar panels, filters and balloon-mounted mirrors would harvest what little sunlight makes it to Mars to illuminate the greenhouse, while screening out harmful radiation. Our Martian starts their day with a high-protein chocolate chip breakfast bar, washed down with a cup of coffee.Ĭoffee on Mars would be like coffee on Earth, either cheaper instant coffee (with artificial caffeine and flavor) or more expensive real beans that would be a luxury produced in a domed crater that serves as a giant greenhouse.
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