Could we make a Mars-sized Mars bar?

Nassim-Eddine Assassi

Abstract


 

Making a Mars-sized Mars bar would be a truly astronomical feat. Due to its sheer size, materials from outer space would need to be used. This paper explores how and where the materials/ingredients for producing such a bar could be acquired and whether all necessary materials could be acquired/synthesised.



Keywords


Chemistry; Astrochemistry; Food science; Mars; Mars bars

Full Text:

PDF

References


Williams, D.R. (2017). Moon Fact Sheet. [online] Nasa.gov. Available at: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Mars, Incorporated (2024). MARS Chocolate Bar 51g. [online] Mars. Available at: https://www.marsbar.co.uk/products/chocolate-bar/mars-chocolate-bar-51g [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Peterson, B.T. & Depaolo, D.J. (2007). Mass and Composition of the Continental Crust Estimated Using the CRUST2.0 Model. NASA ADS, [online] 2007, pp.V33A1161. Available at: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUFM.V33A1161P/ [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Chandrudu, S., Simerska, P. & Toth, I. (2013). Chemical Methods for Peptide and Protein Production. Molecules, vol. 18(4), pp.4373–4388. DOI: 10.3390/molecules18044373.

Mars, Incorporated (2024). MARS Chocolate Bar 51g. [online] Mars. Available at: https://www.marsbar.co.uk/products/chocolate-bar/mars-chocolate-bar-51g [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Ehrenfreund, P. & Cami, J. (2010). Cosmic Carbon Chemistry: From the Interstellar Medium to the Early Earth. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, vol. 2(12), pp.a002097. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a002097

Dulieu, F., Amiaud, L., Congiu, E., Fillion, J.-H., Matar, E., Momeni, A., Pirronello, V. & Lemaire, J.L. (2010). Experimental evidence for water formation on interstellar dust grains by hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 512, pp.A30–A30. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200912079

Minissale, M., Congiu, E., Manicò, G., Pirronello, V. & Dulieu, F. (2013). CO2 formation on interstellar dust grains: a detailed study of the barrier of the CO + O channel. Astronomy & Astrophysics, vol. 559, pp. A49. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201321453

García Martínez, J.B., Alvarado, K.A., Christodoulou, X. & Denkenberger, D.C. (2021). Chemical synthesis of food from CO2 for space missions and food resilience. Journal of CO2 Utilization, vol.53, pp.101726. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcou.2021.101726

Narancic, T., Almahboub, S.A. & O’Connor, K.E. (2019). Unnatural amino acids: production and biotechnological potential. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, vol. 35(4). DOI: 10.1007/s11274-019-2642-9.

Daranlot, J., Hincelin, U., Bergeat, A., Costes, M., Loison, J.-C., Wakelam, V. and Hickson, K.M. (2012). Elemental nitrogen partitioning in dense interstellar clouds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 109(26), pp.10233–10238. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1200017109.

Navarro-Almaida, D., Le Gal, R., Fuente, A., Rivière-Marichalar, P., Wakelam, V., Cazaux, S., Caselli, P., Laas, J.C., Alonso-Albi, T., Loison, J-C., Gérin, M., Krämer, C., Roueff, E., Bachiller, R., Commerçon, B., Friesen, R., García‐Burillo, S., Goicoechea, J.R., Giuliano, B.M., Jiménez-Serra, I., Kirk, J.M., Lattanzi, V., Malinen, J., Marcelino, N., Martín-Domènech, R., Muñoz Caro, G.M., Pineda, J., Tercero, B., Treviño-Morales, S.P., Roncero, O., Hacar, A., Tafalla, M. & Ward-Thompson, D. (2020). Gas phase Elemental abundances in Molecular cloudS (GEMS). Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 637, pp.A39–A39. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201937180.

Delompré, T., Guichard, E., Briand, L. & Salles, C. (2019). Taste Perception of Nutrients Found in Nutritional Supplements: A Review. Nutrients, vol. 11(9), pp.2050. DOI: 10.3390/nu11092050.

Walton, N.J., Mayer, M.J. & Narbad, A. (2003). Vanillin. Phytochemistry, vol. 63(5), pp.505–515. DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9422(03)00149-3

Li, K. & Frost, J.W. (1998). Synthesis of Vanillin from Glucose. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 120(40), pp.10545–10546. DOI: 10.1021/ja9817747.

Mohamadi Alasti, F., Asefi, N., Maleki, R. & SeiiedlouHeris, S.S. (2019). Investigating the flavor compounds in the cocoa powder production process. Food Science & Nutrition, vol. 7(12). DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.1244.

Mumma, M.J., DiSanti, M.A., Dello Russo, N., Fomenkova, M.N., K. Magee-Sauer, Kaminski, C. & Xie, D.X. (1996). Detection of Abundant Ethane and Methane, Along with Carbon Monoxide and Water, in Comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake: Evidence for Interstellar Origin. Science, vol. 272(5266), pp.1310–1314. DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5266.1310

Studymind (2019). Organic Synthesis - Organic Synthesis: Aliphatic Compounds (A-Level Chemistry). [online] Study Mind. Available at: https://studymind.co.uk/notes/organic-synthesis-aliphatic-compounds/ [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Mortzfeld, F.B., Hashem, C., Vranková, K., Winkler, M. & Rudroff, F. (2020). Pyrazines: Synthesis and Industrial Application of these Valuable Flavor and Fragrance Compounds. Biotechnology Journal, vol. 15(11), pp.2000064. DOI: 10.1002/biot.202000064

Gray, T., Whitby, M. & Mann, N. (2017). Abundance in the Universe for all the elements in the Periodic Table. [online] periodictable.com. Available at: https://periodictable.com/Properties/A/UniverseAbundance.v.log.html [Accessed: 4th March 2024]

Ginsburg, A., McGuire, B., Plambeck, R., Bally, J., Goddi, C. & Wright, M. (2019). Orion SrcI’s Disk Is Salty. The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 872(1), pp.54. DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aafb71

Britannica (2013). interstellar medium. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/interstellar-medium [Accessed: 4th March 2024]


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
We use both functional and performance cookies to improve visitor experience. Continue browsing if you are happy to accept cookies. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.
OK