It takes about half a year to get to Mars from Earth, so if humans ever colonize the red planet, NASA’s next big challenge will be keeping the astronauts supplied with food, water, oxygen and spare parts. Beste Basciftci, a business analytics researcher at The University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, is working with the space agency to consider using permanent supply stations in space that would be periodically stocked from Earth so Mars colonists could more easily retrieve supplies without going all the way back to Earth.

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