What do Martians Eat for Breakfast?

There's no shortage of cooking shows on television these days and you can watch to learn how to make just about any dish your heart desires. Maya Cooper spends much of her time experimenting with food, but she's no tv chef. Maya works for NASA at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Her job consists of testing freeze-drying machines and vacuum sealing equipment. Her mission is to figure out what to feed astronauts during their first trip to Mars, set for about 20 years from now.

 A trip to Mars is estimated to take about three years, and this length of travel time is definitely a challenge for keeping foods from spoiling.In addition to studying foods that might be packaged for the trip, Maya also explores options that would let astronauts grow their own food while on space missions. Certain foods can be grown just in water or hydroponically. One dish Maya made recently was space-friendly pancakes, over an electric griddle. She has also tried soy-milk chocolate ice cream which was a huge hit with the other members of her team. It might seem like 2030 is a long way off, but when it comes to something as scientific as space travel, there's no time like the present!

If you were going on a journey that took three years just to get to the destination, what would you want to bring along? Is there any food you just couldn't live without? Maybe by the time NASA's team is headed to Mars, your favorite foods will go with them!