Kennedy Space Center is beginning trial on an artificial "Martian Garden" to identify what kind of vegetables might grow on Mars.

NASA plans to send humans to Mars in the future. Part of the challenge is figuring out how to feed them. In a bid to build a human colony on the red planet, the Kennedy Space Center has partnered with the Florida Tech Buzz Aldrin Space Institute to study the performance of crops grown in a simulated "Martian Garden."

Researchers have been using 100 pounds of Martian soil simulant obtained from Hawaii. The Tech Times reported that the simulants are based on the data gathered from Mars orbiters. During a pilot study conducted around mid-September, researchers attempted to grow nutritious vegetables such as lettuce, snow peas, Chinese cabbage, kale, tomatoes, and Swiss chard on the artificial Martian soil.

Ralph Fritsche, Kennedy Space Center's senior project manager for food production, said that "Soil, by definition, contains organics; it has held plant life, insects, worms. Mars doesn't really have soil."

Mars is said to be covered with crushed volcanic rocks called "regolith," which contains no organic materials. This poses a challenge. Scientists need to conduct extensive research to determine how much stimulants and what particular nutrients are needed to optimize various crop to grow on Martian soil.

NASA said that preliminary results of the study are expected to be released by mid-January, and the final report by March of 2017.

Meanwhile, scientists at the Atacama Desert in Peru have been testing 100 potato varieties, 60 of which have been genetically modified to survive with less water and salt. They are trying to assess if potatoes can be grown on Mars.