China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars: State media
Four kinds of vegetables were grown in an "ecological life support system", a 300 cubic metre cabin which will allow astronauts to develop their own stocks of air, water and food while on space missions, Xinhua news agency said Monday.
The system, which relies on plants and algae, is "expected to be used in extra-terrestrial bases on the moon or Mars", the report said.
Participants in the experiment could "harvest fresh vegetables for meals", Xinhua quoted Deng Yibing, a researcher at Beijing's Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre, as saying.
"Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extra-terrestrial bases in the future," the report said, adding that the experiment was the first of its kind in China.
China has said it will land an exploratory craft on the moon for the first time next year, as part of an ambitious space programme that includes a long-term plan for a manned moon landing.
The Asian superpower has been ramping up its manned space activities as the United States, long the leader in the field, has scaled back some of its programmes, such as retiring its iconic space shuttle fleet.
In its last white paper on space, China said it was working towards landing a man on the moon - a feat so far only achieved by the United States, most recently in 1972 - although it did not give a time frame.
China's first astronaut Yang Liwei said last month that Chinese astronauts may start a branch of China's ruling Communist Party in space, state media reported.
"If we establish a party branch in space, it would also be the 'highest' of its kind in the world," Xinhua quoted Yang as saying.
The astronaut was launched into space and orbited the earth aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft in 2003.
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@settings: The Chinese are flexing its muscles along Indo-China border, Indian ocean and East China sea where it sent its marine planes over Diaoyu Islands belonging to Japan. The day is not far when Chinese will claim whole of Mars also known as the red planet as part of China. Have a nice day.
@Enlightened: come up with something new.
We have many places like Mars in Pakistan, specialy in Balochistan. Please come here and grow vegetables for us, till the time we are learning the art of living the life here after from our good for nothing Molvies.
how about going there first?
Great. If China land on the moon we will really be able to establish once and for all whether the US really did make it to the moon.
we will add mars on our flag to show our support to our all weather friend china
Pakistan can now ask its all weather friend to settle Pakistanis on mars who are totally fed up with ongoing violence and sectarian killings in the country.