Heinz is looking to the future of human space travel and has asked the question - "will there be Heinz Tomato Ketchup on Mars?". The answer is yes, or at least it is "yes" for the time being.
Heinz has stepped out of the box and thought years down the line when humans are attempting to grow foods on other planets and to test out if it's possible to grow tomatoes in harsh conditions, Heinz partnered with astrobiologists at the Florida Institute of Technology's Aldrin Space Institute to grow tomatoes in the same conditions as Mars. The team used the same premium tomatoes that are found in normal Heinz products but grew them in very harsh conditions. The end result is a product that "Heinz Tomato Ketchup Marz Edition".
While the product itself won't be available to purchase, it has provided quite a lot of scientific value as the project has successfully demonstrated that tomatoes could one day be harvested on Mars, as well as pioneering into a relatively new field of research for Martian botany. Dr. Andrew Palmer, from the Aldrin Space Institute and the lead of the team behind the research, said, "Before now, most efforts around discovering ways to grow in Martian-simulated conditions are short-term plant growth studies."
Adding, "What this project has done is look at long-term food harvesting. Achieving a crop that is of a quality to become Heinz Tomato Ketchup was the dream result, and we achieved it. Working with the 'Tomato Masters' at Heinz has allowed us to see what the possibilities are for long-term food production beyond Earth."
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