University researchers in Central Oregon are doing their part to further the goal of putting a man on Mars. Scientists from Oregon State University’s Cascades Campus are halfway through a two-year experiment that’s designed to provide methods to support human life during the journey to Mars and the duration of the astronaut’s stay on the planet. The research team is hoping to develop plants that can control the stimuli in their ecosystems, allowing plants to decide for themselves how much carbon dioxide, nitrogen or light existed within their enclosed chambers as they traveled through space or lived on Mars.