A team of Dartmouth College engineering students has won a NASA competition that sought innovative ideas for the design of a greenhouse on Mars.
The Dartmouth greenhouse design on Wednesday won the 2019 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing — or BIG — Idea Challenge. The Thayer School of Engineering team was one of five finalists across the country selected earlier this year by NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace.
In its design, Dartmouth's greenhouse can grow eight foods — kale, soy, sweet potato, potato, broccoli, strawberry, wheat, and chufa — in a rotating, hydroponic system for a four-person crew on a 600-day surface mission to Mars. It also features an exercise area and relaxation space.
Team members will now have a shot at landing summer internships at NASA.
