Scientists Have Figured outbr How to Grow Food on Mars A group of researchers from Harvard, Edinburghbr and California believe they may have engineered abr way to support photosynthetic life on Mars. They have created aerogel sheets that couldbr transform the planet’s cold, arid surface intobr land able to sustain vegetative life. The sheets mimics the greenhouse effect found onbr Earth by trapping energy from the sun and meltingbr enough subsurface ice to allow plants to survive. It is made up of 97 air, and 2-3cm of these sheetsbr is enough to block harmful UV rays and only allowbr visible light through for photosynthesis. Researchers, viabr ‘Nature Astronomy’ Although others factors still need to bebr addressed, such as the toxic chemicalsbr and radiation present in the planet’s soil, researcher Robin Wordsworth believesbr their aerogel sheets are the future ofbr transforming Mars into a fertile oasis.