Abstract

This article conceptualises a future food system to support life on Mars that has equal relevance to producing food in hostile environments, such as in the world's megacities, on Earth. Our goal is to define what it takes to develop a sustainable food system under the most demanding of circumstances in our virtual-world digital twin or an eventual real-world living lab demonstrator; the outcomes from both will have universal applications to food system research. The current global food production system needs to adapt and innovate in response to climate change, depletion of natural resources and increasing urbanisation. Many of the solutions to these food security challenges require an approach that is applicable to hostile environments on Earth as well as in space.