The Martian

At first, Mike thinks he is going to die, because nothing grows on mars, and the mission did not have enough food to last him until someone could bring him back to earth. He then decides that he will not die on mars, and sets out to create a sustainable living.

He uses dirt from mars, along with feces to grow potatoes. This provides him with a viable way to eat until he can be rescued. Another thing he needs to survive is water, and his potatoes also need water to survive. He comes up with a way to synthesize water, and directs it to his plants.He calculates when the next mission is coming to mars, and sciences his way through it. He makes some changes to a rover he has, so that it can travel farther, and finds a solution to keep himself from freezing that would not suck the power out of the rover. He ended up using a container of radioactive plutonium as a heater.

Earth already provides an atmosphere that supports plant life, as well as an atmosphere that keeps water in. Naturally, our atmosphere also has breathable levels of oxygen, so we don't have to worry about being able to breath either. We don't have to worry about synthesizing water. Our atmosphere also traps just enough heat that we don't have to worry about freezing or overheating. Although we are still at risk for global warming. We also have better soil for growing dirt, which better supports plant life. On earth we have multiple food sources as well, instead of just potatoes.

He also has to find a way to make contact with NASA. He ends up using this really old satellite thing, and manages to contact NASA. The people at NASA told him how to hack the rover, so they can better communicate. He suffers many obstacles, especially when one of the airlocks explodes, and all of his potatoes are gone. He manages to fix the airlock with duct tape and plastic tarps. He stretched his rations as best he can. The supply launch blew up, so not he must find a way to get food again.

In the future, humans could build multiple biodomes on mars, or any other planet or moon for that matter. This would create an earth-like environment that would support crops, and you would probably need a water recycling system of some sort, but plant life would provide all of the oxygen you needed by recycling CO2 from humans. Humans would be able to live there, and eventually create a self sustaining planet. Essentially the bidomes are an artificial atmosphere.