NASA plans to grow potatoes on Mars

The U.S. space agency NASA is exploring the surface of Mars which they intend to populate in the near future. These first colonists will need to have something to eat there, and scientists are of the opinion that the ideal food to grow in extraterrestrial conditions is - potato.
The International Potato Centre (CIP) in Peru and NASA are currently looking for the most suitable of 4,500 potato varieties produced in Peru to grow on the red planet.
Scientists are going to replicate Martian atmospheric conditions in a laboratory by using the soil from the Peruvian desert of Pampas de la Hoja which has almost identical characteristics to that found on the red planet. The increased levels of carbon dioxide will benefit the crop, whose yield is two to four times that of a regular grain crop under normal Earth conditions. The Martian atmosphere is nearly 95 percent carbon dioxide, CIP explained in a recent press release.

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