JAKARTA – Food products company from the United States, Heinz, has collaborated with astrobiologists to make Marz Edition tomato sauce. A special product made from tomatoes grown in Mars-like conditions, paving the way for research in food production in space before launch missions to Mars and beyond.
One of the biggest problems facing astronauts today is the availability of food, especially for long exploratory missions. Some progress has been made in the field of astrobiology, but improving it for long-term missions on objects such as the Moon or other planets remains a challenge.
Until now, astronauts have successfully harvested edible items such as lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale and zinnia flowers on the International Space Station.
Earlier this month, the folks living at the station had a taco party after growing green chilies in space. Then there is water, whose presence has been confirmed in ancient times, but harvesting the precious liquid for future missions remains an unsolved problem. However, it seems that Martian astronauts can at least enjoy ketchup on the Red Planet.
Heinz collaborated with astrobiologists at the Florida Institute of Technology’s Aldrin Space Institute to grow tomatoes in harsh conditions that simulate the climate and soil on Mars. They make a special tomato sauce from the fruit, which is often misclassified as a berry.
However, there is some bad news behind it. Only a small group of people from within the company will be able to taste the very poor “Heinz Tomato Ketchup Marz Edition”, and it is unlikely that it will be mass-produced due to the low yield of tomatoes in the harsh simulations of Martian conditions. The “unique prototype condiment” is the fruit of two years of research into the challenges astronauts must face with food production on Mars.
Tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse called the Red House with strong LED lighting as the only source of photonic energy, not sunlight. The tomatoes were grown in about 7,800 pounds of soil from the Mojave Desert that somewhat resembles the regolith on the neighboring planet.
The temperature inside the Red House is strictly regulated, and a strict irrigation pattern is in place during the entire growth phase. The team initially planted 30 plants as part of the pilot phase and later grew to 450 tomato plants grown in separate buckets. Heinz cherry picked four varieties of tomato seeds, but only two have been shown to survive Martian conditions.
Astrobiologist Andrew Palmer, who led the experiment, noted that the project helps explore the possibility of long-term food production beyond Earth. However, there are some pressing challenges that still need to be resolved.
He added that the best way forward would be to grow different types of vegetables and fruit in a trough system, instead of harvesting individual crops. Doing so will ensure that the variety of microbial partners that thrive in the soil is diverse, which ultimately proves beneficial for long-term harvesting goals.
Palmer added that the project is still in its early stages, but it’s only a matter of time before major limitations are known. To mark his achievement, Heinz sent a limited edition bottle on a space tour that soared 23 miles into the sky, endured extreme temperatures of around minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit and then returned to tell the story.
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