A Practical Guide to Gardening on Mars

Could there be a self-sustaining colony on Mars?

With the ‘Race to Mars’ set to hot up, the next few years could see ideas that once seemed like science fiction become reality. In the 2015 film The Martian, we were spellbound when stranded astronaut, Mark Watney, managed to grow potatoes. If colonisation of Mars is to succeed, we will need to grow plants to survive. This talk explores the difficulties this poses and the ways it may be achieved, as well as the ethics of taking organic matter to another planet.

The science and technology needed to grow plants on another planet will, of course, be adapted from work done being here on Earth. We'll examine this, including research currently being carried out at ARU in Writtle into growing plants in novel environments, such as vertical farming.

This event is presented as part of Chelmsford Science Festival.