Fresh vegetables and salad may become part of the diet of future Moon residents. The space agencies of the United States and Canada, together with the German Aerospace Center, have agreed to prepare a ground-based prototype of a plant-growing module for a lunar base. They want to test how crops grow under reduced pressure and how the greenhouse exchanges oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water with the living module. Long-duration expeditions to the Moon, and later to Mars, will largely depend on this.

Preparatory Stage of the Project

NASA, the Canadian  Space Agency (CSA), and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) signed a memorandum of understanding in August 2026. As DLR reports, the document currently concerns only preparatory work on the ground demonstrator of the Lunar Agricultural Module (LAM-GTD). The parties will decide later whether it should be built. If so, the facility is expected to be completed no later than 2032.

According to the concept, the greenhouse for growing high-density crops will be connected to the crew living module through an airlock chamber that will regulate pressure and gas composition. The crew compartment itself will not be reproduced separately; it will be replaced by the HabSim simulator. Teams from several DLR institutes, NASA, CSA, and the National Research Council of Canada are working on the project.

Reduced-Pressure Conditions

The project is intended to show how plants grow in a controlled environment at pressure lower than that on  Earth. Similar conditions are expected at the future base near the Moon’s south pole, which NASA and its partners plan to build under the Moon Base project.

This choice is not accidental. NASA has studied an atmosphere for lunar habitat modules with a pressure of about 56 kPa, slightly more than half of Earth’s 101 kPa at sea level. In a spacesuit, the pressure is even lower, about 30 kPa. The smaller the difference between the pressure inside the module and inside the spacesuit, the shorter the preparation time for going outside, because with a large pressure difference an astronaut must breathe pure oxygen for a long time to avoid decompression sickness.

Researchers will also separately study the exchange of air and water between the greenhouse and the crew compartment. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, release oxygen, and return water to the circulation cycle, so part of the load on life-support systems can be transferred to them.

Experience from Antarctica

DLR has already experimented with growing food in isolation. Beginning in 2018, the EDEN ISS Antarctic greenhouse team spent five years collecting data on equipment reliability, crop yields, microbiology, and food safety.

Engineers recorded how much electricity, water, and working time such a facility requires. These resources will be limited on a lunar base, so such figures will be needed already at the design stage.

All of these data were obtained under normal Earth pressure. How plants will behave in the rarefied atmosphere of a lunar base will be shown by the new prototype.

More Than Calories

Fresh greens will not replace astronauts’ usual diet but will supplement it. Long-life packaged rations will continue to form the basis of their food, while plants will add variety.

Their benefits are not limited to nutrition. DLR emphasizes that plants support the psychological well-being of the crew. The EDEN ISS team in Antarctica studied this aspect as well. The farther expeditions travel from Earth, the more important such capabilities will become.

Greenhouses for Deserts

The project’s results may also prove useful on Earth. Specialized greenhouse designs could be suitable for dry desert regions where water must be conserved.

Controlled food cultivation offers another advantage. DLR expects that such technologies could help reduce pesticide use and improve food quality, although the mechanism behind this effect is not explained in the announcement.

Humanity plans to establish a colony on Mars, although it remains unclear whether such a settlement could survive without continuous supplies from Earth. To investigate this question, we examined the full range of human needs, from air and food to the mission’s underlying purpose. Our findings indicate that even aboard an orbital station, it is not yet possible to recover half of the oxygen; on Mars, one meter of soil overhead blocks only a quarter of cosmic radiation; and unexpected psychological challenges may arise among an isolated crew.

What people need to live on Mars and the Moon without assistance from Earth. Source: Universe Space Tech YouTube channel

Five steps to Mars

In visualizations, a city on Mars is typically depicted as a cluster of domes, solar panels, and rockets on the horizon. However, a dome alone does not constitute a colony. A colony begins when its inhabitants can produce their own air, water, and food, and repair equipment failures without relying on spare parts from Earth.

Elon Musk articulated this distinction with considerable precision. In a May 2025 interview with Fox News, he described Mars as a “life insurance policy” for humanity in the event of an asteroid strike, nuclear war, or climate catastrophe. He immediately added that a settlement unable to function without a continuous supply of resources from Earth would not constitute a backup plan; it would remain a branch.

Let us consider what the colony will be able to provide for itself in terms of life’s necessities. The hierarchy of needs proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow offers a useful framework for organizing this discussion. It is commonly represented as a pyramid, although Maslow himself never drew such a diagram. For our purposes, the essential point is the progression from basic survival to the sources of meaning in our actions.

The five levels of needs for a colony on Mars — from air, water, and food to the purpose for which people travel to another planet.
Authored by: Universe Space Tech

There are five steps. The first involve air, water, and food; the next involve safety, the people around us, work, and, finally, our goals. On Earth, we move through most of them without even noticing. On Mars, we will have to build each one from scratch, beginning with what we breathe.

Essential needs

The initial step appears to have already been taken, as people have been breathing, drinking, and bathing aboard the International Space Station for more than twenty years. Virtually no water is lost there. Condensate from the air, wastewater generated through personal hygiene, and even urine undergo distillation and filtration. A few years ago, a unit was added to extract moisture from the concentrate, which had previously been discarded. Approximately 98% of the water is recycled.

JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakato (center) and NASA astronauts Frank Rubio (left) and Josh Cassada (right) aboard the ISS.
Source: nasa.gov

Oxygen recovery is a more complex process. Oxygen is extracted from water through electrolysis, and the resulting hydrogen is combined with the carbon dioxide exhaled by the astronauts. This process produces water, which is returned to the cycle, and methane. The methane, along with some of the hydrogen, is jettisoned overboard, making it impossible to recycle all of the exhaled gas. Consequently, only about 50% of the oxygen can be recovered, despite NASA’s requirement that at least 75% be recovered for missions beyond  Earth’s orbit.

Both figures should be interpreted with certain caveats. The station orbits at an altitude of approximately 400 km, and cargo ships regularly deliver water, breathing gases, filters, and spare parts. Accordingly, these figures reflect the effectiveness of the recycling process rather than the station’s ability to operate independently of Earth.

The prospects for obtaining water on Mars are more favorable than one might expect, as extensive deposits of ice lie beneath the planet’s surface. In addition, oxygen can be extracted from the atmosphere, which consists primarily of carbon dioxide. Colonists require oxygen both for respiration and as an oxidizer in rocket fuel; without it, they would be unable to launch from the planet. In 2021, this capability was tested using the MOXIE instrument aboard the Perseverance rover. Martian air was heated inside the device and separated into oxygen and carbon monoxide. Over a two-year period, sixteen sessions were conducted, producing 122 grams of oxygen — enough to sustain an adult’s breathing for five hours. The experiment’s purpose was to demonstrate that this process was feasible.

Water on Mars. Source: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

To support the crew and refuel the rocket for the return journey, a system approximately 200 times larger will be required. It will need about 30 kW, while the entire Perseverance rover is powered by a 110-watt source. The oxidizer required for the return flight alone weighs nearly 30 metric tons and must be produced continuously for almost a year and a half before the crew arrives. No such equipment currently exists; only the MOXIE team’s calculations are available.

In this image, the gold-plated Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument is shown glistening after its installation inside the Perseverance rover. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

Efforts have previously been undertaken on Earth to establish a fully self-sustaining system in which people produce their own air, water, and food. On September 26, 1991, in the Arizona desert, the airtight doors of Biosphere 2 — a glass complex spanning one and a half hectares and containing a forest, a section of ocean, and a farm — were sealed behind eight participants. They were scheduled to emerge two years later.

Their own harvest supplied approximately four-fifths of their food requirements; however, over the course of the experiment, the crew lost an average of 16% of their body weight. The most unusual developments began approximately one year after the spacecraft was sealed. During routine activities, participants began experiencing shortness of breath; some were unable to complete a sentence without pausing to breathe, and one participant fell asleep during lunch. Over a sixteen-month period, the oxygen concentration declined from just over 20% to 14.5%. For context, this is comparable to the oxygen level at an altitude of four kilometers.

Participants in the Biosphere 2 experiment — Jane Poynter, Linda Leigh, Mark Van Thillo, Taber MacCallum, Roy Walford (in the foreground), Abigail Alling, Sally Silverstone, and Bernd Zabel — inside the complex in 1990. Source: Neon

It could not have disappeared without a trace. Living organisms convert oxygen into carbon dioxide; therefore, the concentration of this compound should have increased in direct proportion to the decrease in oxygen. However, measurements did not indicate such an increase. Two explanations emerged. Soil microbes — in soil that was exceptionally rich in organic matter and had been prepared for the crop — consumed oxygen far more intensively than the designers had anticipated, meaning that carbon dioxide levels were indeed rising. In addition, fresh concrete in the structures absorbed carbon dioxide, preventing it from accumulating in the air. Ultimately, the oxygen shortfall had to be offset by pumping oxygen in from outside.

Safety

The second factor, safety, is naturally provided on Earth. Earth’s magnetic field deflects most of the Sun’s charged particles, while its thick atmosphere absorbs the remainder. Mars has a very weak magnetic field, and its surface atmospheric pressure is approximately 160 times lower than  Earth’s. This thin atmosphere offers almost no protection, allowing radiation to reach the surface.

An artist’s rendering of coronal mass ejections approaching Earth and interacting with its magnetic field. Credit: NASA.

In this context, there are two types of hazards, each requiring a distinct protective approach. During solar flares, the Sun emits a stream of particles that persists for hours or days, resulting in a sharp increase in radiation exposure. Galactic rays, by contrast, originate continuously in interstellar space, arrive from all directions, and possess significantly higher energy.

The most straightforward solution is to construct habitats underground. This approach is highly effective against solar flares, and a few dozen centimeters of regolith can reduce radiation exposure to below the safe threshold for astronauts. Galactic cosmic rays, however, present a different challenge. According to a study published in late 2024, a meter of rock overhead reduces radiation exposure by only approximately one-quarter.

The reason is that the layer itself becomes a source of radiation. Galactic rays strike the nuclei of regolith atoms, dislodging secondary particles that then penetrate deeper into the material. The precise amount of soil required to reduce radiation to Earth’s background level is unknown. Estimates range from two and a half to eight meters, and all of this material would need to be deposited using equipment brought from Earth, together with the power source required to operate it.

However, ready-made shelters on the Moon and Mars may already exist. Billions of years ago, lava flowed across these bodies, including beneath their surfaces, leaving hollow tunnels beneath the solidified crust. On the Moon, sinkholes tens of meters in diameter are visible where the ceilings of these cavities have collapsed, and the tunnels themselves may extend for hundreds of kilometers. Their interiors remain unexplored, as the equipment required to investigate them is still under development.

An artist’s rendering of a microvehicle exploring the entrance to a lunar lava tube. Illustration by William Whittaker, Carnegie Mellon University

Although the radiation problem can theoretically be resolved, another threat remains, even beneath a rock ceiling: the astronaut’s own body. Throughout the history of spaceflight, no cardiac arrests have been recorded. However, astronauts who have flown have been carefully selected, healthy professionals receiving daily medical supervision, and their missions have generally lasted only a few months. For long-duration missions, statistical estimates suggest approximately one serious medical event per 900 days spent off  Earth, per person. A round trip to Mars takes years.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation in microgravity presents an engineering challenge. On Earth, a rescuer uses their body weight to apply pressure to the chest; in orbit, however, the rescuer is displaced after the first compression. In 2025, these techniques were tested aboard an aircraft conducting parabolic flights, which provide brief periods of free fall. Only one technique proved effective: an unusual position in which the rescuer braces their feet against the ceiling. However, only an automated piston device consistently achieved the required compression depth. Mars has gravity, although it is less than half that of Earth, so techniques designed for weightlessness are unsuitable there. Standard Earth-based procedures were tested in suspension systems simulating the gravity of Mars and proved less effective. Consequently, no distinct protocol for these conditions is currently available.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in space: This method involves securing a foothold on the ceiling of the ISS directly opposite the victim’s chest, enabling pressure to be applied to the chest.

Cardiac complications represent only one category of risk. Appendicitis, fractures, renal colic, dental abscesses, or severe bleeding — conditions that would warrant an ambulance on Earth — would need to be managed independently, 200 million kilometers from an operating room. Medical guidance from Earth takes approximately 20 minutes to arrive after a question is sent, and returning home is not an option when one begins to feel unwell. Crew members return from the International Space Station within hours; travel from the Moon takes several days, while opportunities to travel from Mars arise only once every 26 months, when the planets are suitably aligned. At other times, support is limited to the small number of people nearby.

Social connections

The third step — the individuals in your immediate surroundings — poses the most difficult threat to predict. The most revealing data on this threat were collected at Concordia Antarctic Station, and the findings run counter to intuition.

The French-Italian base is situated at an altitude of more than three thousand meters, higher than Mount Hoverla, and the body is therefore subjected to a persistent lack of oxygen. During winter, temperatures can fall to minus eighty degrees. The nearest neighbors are more than five hundred kilometers away, and departure is impossible for nine months of the year. Approximately fifteen people remain at the base throughout the winter.

Psychologists observed the team over a ten-month period. Each polar explorer wore a sensor that recorded whom they spent time with and for how long. During the same period, participants completed surveys four times per season assessing loneliness, trust, team cohesion, and self-reported productivity.

By the end of the study, feelings of isolation and the number of disagreements had increased, while trust, cohesion, and job satisfaction had declined. The team had divided along linguistic lines, with the French participants on one side and the Italian participants on the other. This outcome was expected. However, the sensor data revealed an unexpected finding: those who spent the most time in close proximity to their colleagues reported the greatest distress, and greater physical proximity was associated with a stronger sense of loneliness.

The winter crew at the Franco-Italian Concordia Station in Antarctica comprised thirteen individuals.
Credit: ESA, IPEV, PNRA, Beth Gili

Isolation is often understood as a state of emptiness and a lack of contact. At Concordia, however, it took a different form. The same small group of people appeared each day at breakfast, at work, and in the evening — both in the present and six months later — and there was no opportunity to step outside and encounter strangers. As a result, people had little variety in their interactions.

At least the conflict is apparent. Another Antarctic study, which examined how overwintering members of other groups cope with stress, found that the response can disappear entirely. Around the third quarter of their stay, the polar explorers ceased both fighting and avoidance. Their emotions settled into apathy, without depression or aggression. The authors described this as “psychological hibernation” and emphasized that this was merely their interpretation. Such a team member does not cause conflict and continues to perform their duties; therefore, the most dangerous state within a closed group may show no outward signs at all.

An Antarctic overwintering expedition concludes on a predetermined date. In the event of a serious emergency, a medical evacuation team can be dispatched to provide assistance. By contrast, a return journey from Mars takes several years and depends on the planets’ positions; therefore, a rapid evacuation would not be possible.

A flight from Earth to Mars via the orbit that requires the least energy

At this stage, engineering reaches its limits. Although calculations can address breathing requirements and radiation protection, there is no clear solution if, eight months into the mission, one crew member stops communicating with another. No shipment from  Earth would resolve this situation. The only option is to select candidates rigorously, although Concordia’s crew members were not selected at random either.

The meaning and significance of work

The fourth step — work and its purpose — appears to be the simplest, as there will be no shortage of tasks on Mars. The question is whether humans are truly necessary to carry them out. All the listed threats become critical only when a crew is present; therefore, it is worth determining which tasks cannot be performed without one.

The primary rationale is scientific. In late June 2026, a ten-year survey of the sky commenced at the Vera Rubin Observatory. On the Moon, such an instrument would be unaffected by atmospheric interference or space debris. We asked Professor Agnieszka Pollo, Deputy Director for Scientific Research at Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research and coordinator of Poland’s participation in the observatory project, whether constructing it there would be worthwhile. Her response, which includes an unexpected caveat concerning large observatories, is available in the video on our YouTube channel.

The Vera Rubin Observatory building is located atop Cerro Pachón in northern Chile, where the 10-year LSST survey began in 2026. The image combines a photograph with a computer-generated rendering. Source: rubinobservatory.org

However, a telescope on the Moon would require maintenance, and no one would be nearby to repair it if it malfunctioned. Among space telescopes, only the Hubble  Space Telescope has been repaired by astronauts. It was launched into orbit in 1990 with a defective primary mirror. In December 1993, the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour installed corrective optics while working in open space. Every subsequent repair through 2009 required a separate mission.

Equipment malfunctions occur more frequently on the Moon than on Earth. Each year, the lunar surface is struck by approximately one hundred objects weighing up to one metric ton, as well as countless micrometeorites. In addition, sharp, electrically charged dust adheres to surfaces, scratches mirrors, and obstructs mechanisms. Engineers have developed methods to remotely address some of these malfunctions, enabling rovers on Mars and the Moon to remain operational for years, sometimes through remarkably inventive solutions. Large observatories are more complex, however, and the limits of their automation remain uncertain.

The search for life appears to provide a compelling justification for sending humans to Mars. The Martian surface is sterilized by solar radiation; consequently, scientists are seeking traces of microorganisms at a depth of approximately two metres. In our video, Professor Carlo Baccigalupi, a cosmologist and coordinator of the astrophysics and cosmology group at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, explains why a permanent base may be necessary for this type of drilling. However, automated missions are already being planned to explore these depths. The European Rosalind Franklin rover is scheduled to launch in 2028, and, around the same time, China plans to launch the “Tianwen-3” mission to return samples to Earth.

NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are searching for evidence of life on Mars. Source: science.nasa.gov

This leaves the most pragmatic consideration: resources, particularly financial resources. The Moon contains helium-3, an isotope that is virtually nonexistent on Earth. It is considered a promising fuel for fusion power and is already used in the cooling systems of quantum computers. A liter of this gas costs thousands of dollars, while its concentration in lunar regolith is minuscule — only parts per billion. Accordingly, the prototype of a lunar excavator unveiled in May 2025 is designed to extract 100 metric tons of soil per hour. The excavator is robotic, so a future lunar mine could operate without human personnel, just as drilling operations on Mars are likely to do.

Purpose

Regarding the fifth step — the goal — the answer appears to have been publicly stated for quite some time. Elon Musk describes Mars as a backup plan for humanity; however, according to his own criteria, the only viable backup would be a colony capable of sustaining itself without supplies from  Earth. None of the lower rungs currently meet this condition. Therefore, humanity is planning something more akin to a branch office supported by headquarters.

A Martian desert research station in Utah, where the Mars Society is evaluating living conditions for future colonists.
Source: marssociety.org

It is noteworthy that the Mars Society does not advance this argument. The organization, which has promoted the idea of colonization since 1998, was founded by Robert Zubrin, whose calculations underpin modern Mars expedition projects. Its declaration lists seven reasons for going to Mars, and a “spare planet” is not among them. We discussed this omission with Serhii Danylenko, head of the Mars Society in Ukraine.

However, we should not regard the goal as a summit to be reached after ascending four lower steps. It is precisely in pursuit of this goal that we began seeking solutions to all the problems explored above. In its service, we calculate how much oxygen can be recovered at the station, measure the radiation dose beneath a meter of regolith, and equip polar researchers in Antarctica with sensors. These issues matter only because humanity has resolved to undertake a mission to Mars.

The colonization of Mars. Illustration: SpaceX

However, one fact remains unchanged: the pyramid’s roots still extend from Earth. Oxygen, water, medicine, spare parts, solutions, and people continue to come from here. A self-sufficient colony exists only in science fiction books and films, and it is impossible to calculate what it would take to build one today, as we are not yet aware of certain threats. We will have to develop solutions as we proceed.