A project by British students that aims to grow lettuce on Mars will be included in the scientific payload of Mars One , a nonprofit organization that aims to colonize Mars by 2018.

The project will utilize Martian sunlight and atmosphere inside a greenhouse to make the plant grow and flourish under extreme alien weather conditions.

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According to project leader Suzanna Lucarotti from the University of Southampton, this Martian greenhouse project passed a diverse set of engineering challenges involving aeroponic systems; pressurization systems and a fail-safe planetary protection system all integrated into one compact scientific payload.

This project called LettuceOnMars  will transport frozen lettuce seeds from Earth. The seeds are already packed with water, nutrients and instruments for atmospheric processing and electronic monitoring.

For lettuce to survive the harsh Martian environment, the greenhouse temperature will be maintained between 21 to 24 degrees Celsius. Carbon dioxide will be extracted from Mars' atmosphere.

The lettuce will be monitored and its growth documented. When the mission is completed, the heaters will wipe out any traces of the plants so Martian soil won't be contaminated.

This experiment will demonstrate how plants react to minimal gravity as Mars only has one third of Earth's gravity. Plants have been grown in space but the plants that managed to survive weren't healthy, and had genetic mutations.

Mars One hopes to terraform Mars' terrain by making it habitable using microorganisms and plants among many other strategies. This process can create a greenhouse effect on Mars that traps heat and makes the thin atmosphere more livable for plants and animals in the future.

TagsUK Students Send Lettuce to Grow on Mars, Mars, Mars One, mars exploration, students lettuce mars