Now NASA Wants To Grow Potatoes On Mars For Real (examiner.com)

MarkWhittington writes: In the hit movie, "The Martian", NASA astronaut Mark Watney survives by planting potatoes in one of the modules of the Mars base who is stranded at. The plot device received a great deal of praise from space agriculture experts, according to a recent story in Popular Mechanics. Of course, future space farmers would be advised to grow a variety of crops in order to diversify their diet, not an option for Watney. In any case, according to a story in ZME Science, NASA is partnering with Peru's International Potato Center (CIP) to do what Watney did and grow potatoes on Mars.

Comments

Wouldn't the three sisters be a better choice?

[hairyfeet]

After all the three sisters have been planted together for centuries for how well they work in harmony and the beans adding nitrogen to the soil and the squash keeping the roots cool and moist with their leaves would be useful in a Martian greenhouse. Seems like the most logical choice while providing a nice variety to the Martian farmers.

Re:Why potatoes?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Is beta-carotene toxic? I knew Vitamin A was quickly toxic, but I thought beta-carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A in the body was close enough to non-toxic.

beta-carotene is very close to non-toxic. The conversion to vitamin A is well regulated, so it normally won't cause hypervitaminosis A. It does react with cigarette smoke to somewhat increase lung cancer risk, has a slight association with raised rates of a couple other cancers, and, when taken with alcohol can lead to liver toxicity. But it's generally extremely safe (which is why you can take it - without vitamin A riding along with it - until you turn orange).

But while sweet potatoes have a lot of beta-carotine, they ALSO have a LOT of already formed vitamin A. Like over 14,000 IU per 100g serving (to a white potato's 2 IU). Daily Tolerable Upper Level of Vitamin A as Retinol for adults is only 10,000 IU. (Even if that 14,000 IU number includes the beta-carotine, that would only account for 10,600 IU, so 300g/day would be the safety limit.) Trying to live on just sweet potatoes is a recipe for a fatal case of hypervitaminosis A.