Space & Astronomy

Scientists set to grow food crops in space

By T.K. Randall
November 24, 2014

Image: Mars Greenhouse
Credit: (PD) NASA via Wikimedia Commons Lead by a team in Norway, the new 10-year programme will see lettuce, cherry tomatoes and soybeans being grown aboard the International Space Station.

The project will help scientists to better understand how well food crops will grow in the weightless environment of space and to ascertain how they might be most effectively used to sustain astronauts during long haul space missions."I do envision that we can form the basis for food cultivation on the Moon and Mars sometime in the future," said research manager Ann-Iren Kittang Jost of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. "These are just a few preliminary steps. I don't want to venture a guess regarding how long it will take before they can be used on a large scale."

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in maintaining a self-sufficient, habitable environment for astronauts is the need to transport large amounts of supplies from Earth, a problem that could be avoided if food and oxygen could be produced directly in space.

"One of the big challenges is to administer exactly the right amount of water and nutrients to the plants in such little gravity," said Kittang.

Source: Sky News

Tags: Space, Food, ISS