A Newman professor is creating an open-source, interactive textbook on how people might live on Mars — and it all began with her research on caves.
Tomoko Bell, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, her previous supervisor John Jenson, Ph.D., and colleague Blaž Miklavič, Ph.D., “explored understudied, fascinating caves hidden quietly in tropical forests for years,” Bell said. “This intense experience inspired me to develop a STEM collaborative project.”
The project doesn’t involve a traditional curriculum. Instead, the collaborative, interactive textbook Bell and her team are creating will center around a story consisting of two specific chapters — one about caves and the other involving bacteria.
Bell is no stranger to the latter as she teaches several microbiology courses focusing on bacteria and how these tiny organisms live, grow, interact and affect the environment around them.
Her experience makes her uniquely qualified to hypothesize how Mars could eventually sustain human life.
“Bacteria will play a big role if humans live on other planets such as Mars,” Bell said. “There are scientists making light bulbs using bacteria, so we don’t need electricity; we would just use bacteria to make light.
Along with sustainable bacteria-based light bulbs, there are also specific nutrient-rich bacteria, such as the algae-like Cyanobacteria (Arthrospira platensis), which also helps produce oxygen.
“I even have a picture of ramen noodles made with bacteria in the curriculum,” Bell said, after noting she tried eating the noodles from that very photo.
Image Credit: TripAdvisor, 2025
“Although I would rate the ramen a three-out-of-ten, I heard it had lots of nutritional value, so I told myself ‘OK, I can suck it up.”
Students need not worry, only the photo, not the taste test, will be included in the curriculum.
“Bacteria has lots of potential. They can produce pretty quickly, unlike plants, which take a longer time to grow. They are small but mighty,” Bell said.
Since the surface of the Red Planet is exposed to high levels of radiation, Bell predicts humans would need to live in subsurface caves — which is exactly why studying caves on Earth is a pivotal part of the ideation process.
“There are already many caves discovered on Mars,” Bell said. “I’m more interested in the smaller entrance caves that are very spacious inside.”
“Due to the inability to explore caves on Mars as of now, scientists analog study caves on Earth to compare them as close as possible,” Bell said. “I will introduce the concept of analog study to students in the first chapter so they have a basic idea about caves.”
The interactive, story-based textbook that holds all this information will allow students to grow in their curiosity about living on Mars.
Once completed, the curriculum will be open to anyone interested, including Newman students and students who cannot afford to attend school.
“I want this to be available to everyone,” Bell said. “I’d like to utilize any STEM classes here on campus. Not only STEM courses or camps, but if students in my microbiology class are interested, I would love for them to access it.”
This project was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Science Mission Directorate Community of Practice for Education (NASA SCoPE) at Arizona State University (ASU). The program provides unique opportunities to facilitate and fund collaborations among Subject Matter Experts (SME) and NASA Science Activation Teams (SciAct Teams) who have completely different backgrounds.
“I am very thankful that NASA SCoPE gave me this opportunity,” Bell said. “I am excited about the people I will meet through this project and share our excitement about caves on Earth and Mars with STEM students.”
This summer, Bell will meet with other seed grant awardees, NASA SciAct Teams, and project managers and staff, including Ana Aranda, Jessica Swan and Bailey Williams from NASA SCoPE at ASU.
“There will be a symposium and we will showcase our projects, exchange ideas, and strengthen our collaboration,” Bell said.
After the symposium, Bell will fly to North Carolina to meet with Principal Investigator Matthew Cass and Randi Neff from Smoky Mountains STEM Collaborative.
She will also meet and work with the software engineer who is helping with the interactive textbook, Tim DeLisle at Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) and Steven Michael Smith from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Bell is teaching the curriculum at a PARI space camp called “Above and Beyond.”
“I cannot wait to meet everybody and see students light up with this curriculum,” Bell said.
The team of the two-chapter interactive textbook, “Visualizing Possible Human Migration to Mars Caves,” has aspirations to add sections if they receive more funding.
Bell hopes to create more chapters in the future, noting an “experimental plan” chapter, which would involve hands-on experiments that students can partake in.
