Growing Plants in Space: The Science Behind Future Moon and Mars Colonies | Mark Ciotola - CEO and Co-Founder, Sustain Space

Episode notes

Send us Fan Mail Everyone talks about getting humans to Mars. But almost nobody talks about the harder question - how do you keep them alive once they get there? My guest today says the answer isn't bigger rockets - it's plants. Mark Ciotola is CEO and Co-Founder of Sustain Space ( ), a company focused on developing regenerative life-support technologies for future space missions while translating those innovations to improve agriculture and sustainability on Earth. Through Sustain Space's Orbital Genomics initiative, he is helping advance research into growing plants in space environments - an essential capability for long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Mark's career spans entrepreneurship, academia, industry, and government, including work with NASA, Genentech, Applied Biosystems, Intuit, Carnegie Mellon University, Monash University, San Francisco State University, and Singularity University, where he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence and faculty member in Space and Physical Sciences.

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