It was nighttime at MysticLand. All the Mysticals and MysticBeasts were fast asleep. The evil Bruha was probably tinkering around her cauldron of no-good. Back on the grounds of MysticLand Elementia School, a low rumbling noise was steadily growing. Luna, the MysticBeast, was snoozing close by and woke up when the ground slightly shook.
“Stop it! Or you will wake up everybody,” whispered Orak loudly climbing into the Tempus machine. The Gifted Four were up for their next adventure and this time it involved space.
“Do you have the bottle? Don’t forget the bottle, Felix,” said Verum strapping on her seat belt. They were all set inside the Tempus machine. With a whoosh, they were off …. to planet Mars!
“Hey Verum. Why am I carrying a bottle of tomato ketchup to Mars,” asked Felix.
“This isn’t just any ketchup. It’s the Heinz ‘Marz Edition’ ketchup, you silly pixie. For the past 150 years, Heinz, an American company, has been making delicious ketchup for humans. They have a team called the ‘Tomato masters’ who are experts on ketchup tomatoes. The masters have the power to approve or reject tomatoes that finally become Heinz ketchup. Only the finest are picked.
Humans have been going on so many space missions that one must wonder what if they shifted to Mars? What would food grown on Mars taste like? A team of 14 scientists at the Aldrin Space Institute in Florida were intrigued by the idea and became space tomato farmers! They set up a lab called ‘The RedHouse’ and began by making the soil found on Mars.
Mars, also known as the Red Planet, has very poor nutrients in its soil. It’s also about 100 degrees Fahrenheit colder than Earth. While our atmosphere has a lot of oxygen, Mars’ atmosphere has mainly carbon dioxide. These were the challenges that this team conquered and grew tomatoes that were approved by the tomato masters! And it only took them nine months.”
“What’s the big deal? It’s just tomato ketchup”, said Scorch squirting some out of the bottle onto her sandwich.
“No no no, Scorch. This bottle of tomato ketchup has helped humans understand how to grow food on the Martian soil. Imagine if they actually decided to live on Mars. Now they can take these learnings and grow their own food. Maybe moving to Mars isn’t that far away, all thanks to a bottle of tomato ketchup!” said Verum looking at the twinkly stars from the Tempus machine.