Agriculture Sphere

Explore the Hydroponic Agricultural Facility of Koinae:

On Mars, the red "soil" of the planet is actually not soil at all. Soil is made up of a mixture of water, highly weathered rocks and minerals, and organic materials. These organic materials are made up of waste from living things, dead plants and animals, food, and other nutrients.

These organic materials are not present on Mars, so it is not really soil. Since it the ground is not composed of soil, it is virtually impossible to grow plants on Mars. Another problem with growing plants on Mars is the temperature. Plants use complex systems of water to transport nutrients, as well as to produce their food. In most places on Mars, the temperature is too low to keep the water thawed long enough for the plant to survive.

Yet another problem is the fact that there is no oxygen on Mars for plants to breathe, and very little carbon dioxide, which is used in photosynthesis. As a result of the lack of natural facilities for growing food, the Mars colony must resort to artificial means. To grow their food, the colonists on Koinae use a method known as hydroponics. Hydroponics involves growing plants in extremely nutrient-rich water. This is very easy for the agricultural sphere workers to do, since the nutrients can be derived from the wastes of the colony.

The type of hydroponics system that they use was first developed by NASA. In these early experiments, 200 square feet or 18.9 square meters of hydroponic plants could provide enough oxygen and water for a person to survive. However, to have enough food to last until more was fully grown, the area had to be expanded to 800 square feet, or 75.7 meters. To be safe, the colonists decided to expand this figure even further, to 1000 square feet, or 94.7 square meters. To accomodate all 25 citizens of Koinae, the hydroponics area must be at least 25,000 square feet, or 2,367 square meters. The designers of the colony made the hydroponics area must larger though, large enough to support as many as 10,000 citizens.

* Click here to see a detailed description of how hydroponics works.

Have you ever had hydroponically grown food? Many grocery stores now carry hydroponic fruits and vegetables, like this tomato. Try buying some of these, and see if you can tell the difference between how they look and taste. You could even try a taste test with your friends and family. We'd love to hear your results!