Mars Agriculture & Food Production Panel

Moderator: Penelope Boston, New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology & Nat. Cave & Karst Res. Inst. (NCKRI)

Panelists: D. Marshall Porterfield, NASA: Division Director, Life and Physical Sciences, HEOMD Taber MacCallum,  Paragon SDC: Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder Robert J. Ferl, University of Florida: Director, Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research Anjan Contractor, Systems and Materials Research Corp.: Senior Engineer

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 3:30-5:00 pm - Topic 2

Boston, P.J. 1981. Low-pressure greenhouses and plants for a manned research station on Mars. J. Brit. Interplan. Soc. 34:189-192.

My First Published Paper….

• Germination & early growth• 60 mb CO2

• Traces of O2

* Low-pressure greenhouses and plants for a manned research station on Mars. Boston, P.J. 1981. J. Brit.

Interplan. Soc. 34:189-192.

Surface habitats on Mars?

Why not??? Duh….

Surfacehabitats on Mars?

NO NO NO!

Boston Speaks: 1981*Boston Speaks: 1981* Boston Speaks: 2000Boston Speaks: 2000‡‡

‡Bubbles in the rocks: Natural and artificial caves and cavities as life support structures. Boston, P.J. 2000. Mars Greenhouses: Concepts and Challenges. NASA

Tech. Mem 2000-208577. 

Food Production ChallengesFood Production ChallengesReduced GReduced G Engineering Engineering

robustnessrobustness

ReliabilityReliability

Radiation damageRadiation damageAutomationAutomation

PowerPower

More, more, moreMore, more, more

Producing Food is Hard Work!

So how do we make extraterrestrial food production resemble this engineer’s futuristic dream?

Or do we???

Art courtesy of R.D. Frederick