If we were ever to send humans to Mars for a long-term or permanent visit, then it’d be essential that we develop some sort of renewable food source. One idea would be planting vegetables in Martian ...

Experiments have shown that plants can grow surprisingly well in simulated Martian and lunar soil. The real issue isn’t a ...

Space exploration has always been about solving extraordinary challenges. Among these, ensuring astronauts’ health and sustainability on long-term missions has emerged as a critical focus. NASA’s ...

Of the many challenges involved in sending humans on the journey to Mars, figuring out how to pack enough food for such a lengthy trip looms large. Of course, astronauts will need food on their way to ...

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. The first thing Brazilian astrobiologist Rebeca Gonçalves remembers learning as a child was the order of the ...

What plants would be most suitable for a future Mars settlement? This is what a recent study published in The Innovation hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

At first glance, Syntrichia caninervis looks like a dust bunny or a gray, low-lying shrub. But this humble moss is known for surviving harsh conditions that most plants find uninhabitable, like the ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Elon Musk might have his sights set on settling Mars, but recent experiments that utilized ...

What will it take to sustain humans on Mars? The answer is self-sufficiency far away from Earth's protective harbor. Utah State University scientists Bruce Bugbee and Lance Seefeldt were part of the ...

Humans have stepped foot on the moon, but we haven't made it to Mars. Yet. Amid the myriad barriers, a key issue to sending a crew to Mars is food. Weight, volume and longevity limit the kinds – and ...

Mosses are among Earth's great terraformers, turning barren rock into fertile soils, and now a team of scientists is proposing these non-vascular plants could do the same on Mars. But if we decide ...