Feeding One Million People on Mars

Food production on Mars is usually thought of in terms of growing plants to partially support small exploration crews for short- to medium-term stays. Here, we consider the more radical goal of producing enough food on Mars to sustain a permanent settlement of private citizens that increases to 1 million people within 100 Earth years. We modeled a population that grows from immigration as well as naturally. Calorie needs were calculated on a per-person basis, and land use was modeled with a diet that includes staple crops, insect products, and cellular agriculture. Food self-sufficiency can be attained within 100 years with reasonable inputs, but massive amounts of imported food would be needed in the interim. Various strategies can reduce the amount of imported food significantly, balanced against the rate at which pressurized food facilities are constructed. Developing a commercial food industry on Mars will involve high up-front costs, but in situ resource utilization will be able to help close the business case. Future research should focus on methods to produce plant nutrients, insect feed, and cultured cell feedstocks from mostly local resources on Mars. Engineering and architecture efforts should develop automated methods for rapidly building shielded, pressurized volumes to house food production facilities.