China Preparing To Grow Vegetables On Mars

China is extremely interested in growing vegetables on Mars and the moon, according to The Raw Story.

State Media has reported that Chinese experts have completed a preliminary test of the interplanetary gardening feat in Beijing. The purpose of the experiment is to allow astronauts to grow fresh food while embarking on space missions.

Researchers from Beijing’s Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre would love nothing more than for space explorers to develop their own food, water, and oxygen supplies while venturing through the far reaches of outer space.

“Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extra-terrestrial bases in the future,” a recent report explained.

The Economic Times explains that this is the first experiment of its kind in China. The cabin, which relies heavily on plants and algae, is likely to be used whenever Chinese astronauts decided to embark on missions to the moon or Mars.

The controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) was originally designed in 2011 to “provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for astronauts with the help of plants and algae, instead of relying on stocks of such basics deposited on board at the outset of the mission,” the website reports.

According to The Huffington Post, Chinese officials would love to put astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. The country’s space program is already preparing to send an unmanned vessel to the moon at some point within the next 12 months.

The long term goal of the CELSS is to provide a source of food, water, and oxygen should astronauts ever find their way onto Mars’ harsh and uninhabitable landscape. Since providing supplies for such a long journey would prove to be difficult, researchers are hoping this system will make things a bit easier.

What do you think about China’s space program and its desire to grow vegetables on Mars?