West Lafayette, IN -- If we humans are ever to live on Mars, we might have to eat our own feces and urine.

That's the smelly truth from a group of Purdue University researchers who are currently identifying plants that can grow on Mars when fed human waste.

Water can then be reclaimed from the plants and be used for various purposes like for drinking or growing edible plants.

While turning human waste into water may seem nasty, researchers insist it must be done because it may be the only constant source of water we'll have on the red planet.

As part of the research, NASA sent the university a $49,000 special toilet -- which is like the ones used on NASA spacecraft -- to collect human waste.

Researcher Cary Mitchell says the expensive poo and pee collector adds "pizazz" to the research and says only "graduate students and trainees use it."

Human habitation on Mars is not only possible, but "...it's going to happen," says Mitchell, who expects it to happen by 2030.

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