There are a wide number of specialties that would be valuable on a Mars mission. It helps if you have more than one. read more
It wasn't so much that NASA sent a botanist, but that NASA sent an astronaut with expertise in mechanical engineering AND botany. He was sent there specifically to collect soil samples to determine the validity of growing plants on mars. read more
They're the most rugged and easily grown plants on earth, so NASA picked them as the test subjects. So I have two problems: not enough dirt, and nothing edible to plant in it. But I'm a botanist, damn it. read more
Image: Concept art for Martian greenhouse / NASA We talked to Ray Wheeler, who leads NASA’s Kennedy Space Center life support system, to figure out just how we might go about finding them. Water for our fictional farm may turn out to be at least a slightly easier get for us than Watney’s fictional farm for one reason: We know know where there is liquid water on Mars. read more