Agreed. Insects can be pretty tasty anyway - they might end up being the favourite items on the menu.
Guinea pigs fed on spirulina, and their excrement fed to tilapia.
Step daughter (v.3.0) ate guinea pigs in Chile.
I only feed it to fish, but I agree with Broomstick that I sure as hell wouldn’t like eating spirulina.
The first guys there could set up the food growing projects while being supplied from Earth.
How many windows a year are there to reach Mars?
If I recall, the “windows” operate on a 2 year cycle or close to it.
Windows per year? The proper way to frame the question is years between cycles and the delta-V required to achieve them. Realistically, we won’t be supporting a human presence on Mars without high performance (likely nuclear thermal or nuclear electric) propulsion.
Stranger
I wonder if supplies could be sent at a low thrust to arrive where Mars would be in years if you are just sending tomato soup and beef jerky.
Sure, the could. But the point is that if you want to have a colony (versus a temporary outpost) on another planet, it needs to eventually be self-sufficient. At the very least, food and material resources, if not fuel and manufacturing ability are precursors to that self-sufficiency. A “colony” which is dependent upon supplies for its essential existence isn’t a colony at all.
Stranger
Even if its sent by second class post (as it were), lifting it away from Earth is very expensive.
I am considering supplying the first guys there, who would assembled and maintain some form agriculture that would be a going concern for the colonists. If some or all of the agricultural pursuits fail, these guys need to eat while they await rescue or replaced equipment. One must assume that some supply vessels won’t make it for one reason or another. They can’t carve “Roanoke” on a tree and take off to live with the Indians.
Since I have a mild soy allergy, I would fight tooth and nail against a soy based diet.
I’d work hard to bring some chickens.
Would very strongly discourage bringing rodents and insects for food. Last thing we need to do is bring along our own vermin. I don’t care what you say, they’re going to get loose.
There’s a fundamental difference in pest control on an alien world, though–without active life support from the colony, the pests can’t survive. Worst case, an atmosphere purge will get rid of all of them in areas that can take it–which had better be everything but the aquaponics area, anyway.
In reality, youre fighting tooth and nail to exclude yourself from the mission. Efficiency will almost certainly take precedence over individual dietary needs and aesthetics.