Food On Mars

Members of Food on Mars/Space group: Lujayn Abdelfattah, Nasim Ali, Sapna Sarwananthan and Aban Zaman

ACTION

What action/experiment did you take?

The aim of our experiment was to determine the most efficient way to grow plants using methods that we would use if we were on Mars. We grew peas, kale, and potatoes using three different growth methods. We grew each plant in earth soil, martian simulant, and using hydroponics. We wanted to see which plants would grow the most and tallest. We found that the simulant had the most plant growth; the tallest plants and the most amount grew in the martian simulant. One plant grew using hydroponics and none grew in the Earth soil.

How did you use what you learned in grade nine science in the design?

We used the lab safety tips that we learned in grade nine science by cleaning our station each time we finished. We also applied what we learned about physical and chemical changes to help set up the jars to grow the plants hydroponically (image below on the left) - we had to make chemical changes to the water. Thirdly, our knowledge of circuits made building the Microbit that watered our plants easier - but we did not finish it in time to use it.

(Instagram posts below)

Space Food IG slides

WHERE IT COULD GO NEXT...

Pitch the next phase of your project.

The next phase of our project would be to experiment which plants would grow the most efficiently in the Mars simulant. Because our data showed that the simulant was the best way to grow plants on Mars, we would expand upon that and experiment and compare between a lot of different plants. The next phase of the project could have the plants placed in a more controlled environment. For example, the plants could be grown in a greenhouse - in Mars simulant - where the sunlight and temperature could be controlled.

Inspire a future group of students to pick up where you left off.

Future students could add so much more to this project and pick up where our group left off. Our group could only grow three types of plants, and the environment was very uncontrolled. We could not control the sunlight or the temperature, and the plants were grown in a classroom, not a greenhouse. All plants are different, and future students can plant more plants and research more in-depth on the differences in plant growth between Mars simulant and hydroponics. Future students can play around with sunlight, temperature, and other variables to determine what makes the best plant growth beyond the choice of the method of plant growth.

Why is this an important cause? Why should they continue with it?

Researching how we would grow food on Mars is important because growing food on Mars is completely different than on Earth! We need to find ways to grow food on Mars in order to move there. Future students must continue our project to expand on our results. On Mars, we will not just eat kale, peas, and potatoes; more plants need to be experimented with, and they need to be placed in a more controlled, organized, and experimental environment.

Space-food is a fun group to be in, but also one that is very challenging. Sometimes it is hard to know why a plant died, had stunted growth, or grew ten times taller than all the other ones, but if future groups avoid the mistakes we did, they could grow fully matured plants the same way they would be grown on Mars.

Where would you like to see it go next?

Our group would like to see a variety of fully grown plants grown using Mars simulant and hydroponics. We would like to see more plants being grown (our project only grew peas, potatoes, and kale) - plants that are regularly eaten and maybe fruits that are not found in North America, like mangoes.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN...

Reflection

How does your project fit or connect with the other projects in the class? Are we living sustainably on your chosen planet?

Our project connects with different projects in the class. An example is the health impacts group. Your diet can impact your overall health. Another group is transportation because we need food to eat while travelling.

If we grow our food by planting them on the soil on Mars, then we would be living sustainably.

How successful was your action (it's OK if it didn't go as planned)? Did you meet your goal?

Our action was successful in some ways. For example, we managed to grow three plants in total. Although the rest of the plants did not grow, we learned a lot about different ways of growing plants. In the beginning, we made sure to prepare our plants properly. We made a lot of progress in building the Microbit but we ran out of time. We met our goal, however, we could have taken other actions to have more successful results (e.g. completing the Microbit so the plants can be properly watered).

What contributed to your group's success (or lack of success)?

Contributors to the group's success:

We split the work up evenly and focused on certain tasks.
Took time to make sure our work was perfect.
Worked together to complete the tasks.

Contributors to our group's lack of success:

Only the peas grew
None of the plants in the normal Earth soil grew.
The Microbit was not working when we started our trial, so we had to rely on Mrs.Q to water for us.

What would you do differently if you could?

Build our Microbit watering device in time for our experiment! If we could, even build the Microbit before the experiment so we can check if the device works and experiment with different values (pressure, seconds, etc).
In our experiment, we did not have control over the temperature and sunlight that the plants received - two of the biggest factors that affect plant growth. What we would do differently is we would place the plants in a controlled environment (like a greenhouse) and experiment with changing the sunlight and temperature of the plants.
Grow more plants and ensure that they are growing smoothly. If we could somehow check if the plants are germinating and growing, we would, and we would grow way more plants, not just the three we had.

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