Mars Timeline
food on the International Space Station ( ISS ) and future spacecraft . Limited space means an area measuring about 16 by 16 inches on the ISS .
It might be hard to imagine much of anything growing in such a small area , but small lettuce plants have grown and hopefully Chinese cabbage and dwarf tomato plants will grow in the future .
As for terraforming , or converting the Mars environment to be better suited to grow food – that would require water , increased atmospheric pressure and milder temperatures , which don ’ t exist . The environment is very harsh , so it ’ s a very tall order and Wheeler doesn ’ t see it happening in the near future .
“ I can ’ t imagine 100 years from now humans wouldn ’ t have gone to Mars and aren ’ t living on some outpost there ,” he said . “ I think technically we have the abilities , but it has to be a sustained effort over a decade or two .”
Judging from the research underway along The Corridor , some might say that effort has already begun .
Mars Timeline
1955 Cold War starts Space Race 1957 Soviet Union successfully launches Sputnik into orbit 1958 Congress establishes NASA
1962 JFK delivers speech to American public at Rice University – “ We choose to go to the moon …”
1969 Apollo 11 lands on the moon , Neil Armstrong takes “ one small step for man [ and ] one giant leap for mankind ”
1971 Mariner 9 : First mission to orbit another planet – Mars 1976 Viking 1 and Viking 2 : Probes land on Mars
1997 Mars Pathfinder : Lands on Mars for its rover , Sojourner , to collect data
2003 Spirit and Opportunity : Rovers launch to seek history of water on Mars
2011 Atlantis : Last space shuttle to lift off from Kennedy Space Center ; Industry joins NASA as space goes commercial
2012 Mars Science Laboratory : Curiosity lands to investigate climate , geology and habitability of Mars
2016 President Barack Obama reinforces goal for U . S . to send humans to Mars by the 2030s ; SpaceX sets goal to colonize Mars within 100 years
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