Humans can’t help being fascinated by space. And that interest seems to be making the possibility of moving humanity to another planet, like Mars or the Moon, more distinct, with Nasa hoping to set up colonies in the next few decades.
But these missions will only be viable if astronauts can produce their own food. To colonise Mars, settlers will have to grow their own food in systems that are as close to self-perpetuating as possible, with little or no input from Earth once these systems have been established. This is because Mars is 54.6 million km away from Earth, and it would take around seven months to get there using current technology.
