Space farming
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Space farming refers to the cultivation of crops for food and other materials in
space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
or on off-Earth celestial objects – equivalent to
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
on
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
. Farming on celestial bodies, such as
the Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the List of natural satellites, fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth ( ...
or
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
, shares many similarities with farming on a
space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
or space colony. However, farming on celestial bodies may lack the complexity of
microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
, depending on the size of the body. Each environment would have differences in the availability of inputs to the space agriculture process: inorganic material needed for
plant growth Important structures in plant development are buds, shoots, roots, leaves, and flowers; plants produce these tissues and structures throughout their life from meristems located at the tips of organs, or between mature tissues. Thus, a living plant a ...
, soil media,
insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...
, relative availability of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen, and so forth.


Introduction

The supply of food to
space stations A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
and other long duration missions is expensive. One astronaut on the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
requires approximately "1.8 kilograms of food and packaging per day". For a long-term mission, such as a four-man crew, three year Martian mission, this number can grow to as much as 24,000 lb (or about 11,000 kg). Due to the cost of resupply and the impracticality of resupplying interplanetary missions, the prospect of growing food inflight is incredibly appealing. The existence of a space farm would aid the creation of a
sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...
environment, as plants can be used to recycle wastewater, generate oxygen, continuously purify the air, and recycle feces on the space station or spaceship. Just 10 m² of crops produces 25% of the daily requirements of 1 person, or about 180-210 grams of oxygen.Kijk magazine 9/2015 Essentially, the space farm turns the spaceship into an artificial
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
with a
hydrological cycle The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly cons ...
and nutrient recycling. In addition to maintaining a shelf-life and reducing total mass, the ability to grow food in space would help reduce the vitamin gap in astronaut's diets and provide fresh food with improved taste and texture. Currently, much of the food supplied to astronauts is heat treated or
freeze dried Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conve ...
. Both of these methods, for the most part, retain the properties of the food pre-treatment. However, vitamin degradation during storage can occur. A 2009 study noted significant decreases in vitamins A, C and K, as well as
folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...
and thiamin can occur in as little as one year of storage. A mission to Mars could require food storage for as long as five years; thus, a new source of these vitamins would be required. Supply of foodstuffs to others is likely to be a major part of early off-Earth settlements. Food production is a non-trivial task and is likely to be one of the most labor-intensive and vital tasks of early colonists. Among others, NASA is researching how to accomplish space farming.


Technical challenges

A variety of technical challenges will face colonists who attempt to do off-Earth agriculture. These include the effect of reduced gravity, lighting, and pressure, as well as increased radiation. Though greenhouses may solve many of the problems presented by space, their construction would come with their own set of technical challenges. Plants grown inflight experience a
microgravity environment The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
, and plants grown on the surface of Mars experience approximately 1/3 the gravity that Earth plants do. However, plants experience normal growth given that directional light is provided. Normal growth is classified as opposite root and shoot growth direction. This being said, many plants grown in a space flight environment have been significantly smaller than those grown on Earth's surface and grew at a slower rate. In addition to the varying effects of gravity, plants grown on the surface of Mars will be exposed to much higher levels of radiation than on Earth unless protected. Exposure to high levels of radiation can damage plant DNA, which occurs as highly reactive hydroxyl radicals target DNA. DNA degradation has a direct effect on plant germination, growth and reproduction. Ionizing radiation also has an effect on PSII function and may cause a loss of function and generation of radicals responsible for photo-oxidation. The intensity of these effects vary from species to species. The low-pressure environment of the surface of Mars has also been a cause for concern. Hypobaric conditions can affect net photosynthesis and evapotranspiration rates. However, a 2006 study suggests maintaining elevated CO2 concentrations can mitigate the effects of hypobaric conditions as low as 10 kPa to achieve normal plant growth. Martian soil contains a majority of the minerals needed for plant growth except reactive nitrogen, which is a product of mineralization of organic matter. Since the Martian surface is deficient in organic matter, reactive nitrogen is lacking. Reactive nitrogen is a required constituent of soil used for plant growth, and it is possible that nitrogen fixing species, such as bacteria, could aide in supplying reactive nitrogen. However, a 2014 study suggested that plants were able to germinate and survive a period of 50 days on a Martian and lunar soil by using simulant soils. This being said, only one of the four experimented species did well enough to achieve full flower formation, and more work is needed to achieve complete growth. and it needs oxygen to grow in space. we need 0.8g of oxygen needed in space


Experiments

*The " GreenHab" at the
Mars Desert Research Station The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is the largest and longest-running Mars surface research facility in the world and is one of two simulated Mars analog habitats owned and operated by the Mars Society. The MDRS station was built in the ea ...
in
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
contains a greenhouse designed to emulate some of the challenges resulting from farming on Mars. *The Lada experiment and the European Modular Cultivation System on the
International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
is used to grow small amounts of fresh food. *In 2013, NASA funded research to develop a 3D food printer. *The NASA Vegetable Production System, "Veggie," is a deployable unit which aims to produce salad-type crops aboard the International Space Station. *The 2019 lunar lander
Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission, part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. China achieved humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellite, ...
carries the Lunar Micro Ecosystem, a sealed "biosphere" cylinder 18 cm long and 16 cm in diameter with seeds and insect eggs to test whether plants and insects could hatch and grow together in synergy. *The future
ALINA Alina is a female given name of European origin. It is particularly common in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It may be derived from the name Adelina. Alina was one of the top 10 most popular names in Switzerland and one of the top 50 most ...
lunar lander will carry a small "biosphere" cylinder called Lunar Plant Growth Experiment (LPX), where NASA will attempt to germinate and grow several plant types.NASA's Next Frontier: Growing Plants On The Moon
Tarun Wadhwa, ''Forbes''. 2013.
*The EDEN-ISS project was a 4 year project in Antarctica at Neumayer Station III designed to showcase plant cultivation system for future tests on-board ISS and a Future Exploration Greenhouse (FEG) for planetary habitats. The project has since been extended.


Crops experimented with

Following crops have been considered for use in space farms: potatoes, grains, rice, beans, tomatoes, paprika, lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, onions, and peppers.


See also

*
Astrobotany Astrobotany is an applied sub-discipline of botany that is the study of plants in space environments. It is a branch of astrobiology and botany. It has been a subject of study that plants may be grown in outer space typically in a weightless but ...
* Biosphere2 *
Bioastronautics Bioastronautics is a specialty area of biological and astronautical research which encompasses numerous aspects of biological, behavioral, and medical concern governing humans and other living organisms in a space flight environment; and includ ...
*
Generation ship A generation ship, or generation starship, is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels at sub-light speed. Since such a ship might require hundreds to thousands of years to reach nearby stars, the original occupants of a gene ...
*
Human mission to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Some have also considered exploring the Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos. ...
*
Microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...
*
Plants in space The growth of plants in outer space has elicited much scientific interest. In the late 20th and early 21st century, plants were often taken into space in low Earth orbit to be grown in a weightless but pressurized controlled environment, sometime ...
*
Scientific research on the International Space Station The International Space Station is a platform for scientific research that requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit (for example microgravity, ( cosmic) -radiation and extreme temperatures). The primary fields ...
* Vegetable Production System


References

* *"Advanced Astroculture TM (ADVASC)" ISS Program Scientist's Office. 3/7/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100426041533/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ADVASC.html *"Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism (Tropi)" ISS Program Scientist's Office. 12/21/2007. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100203064705/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/Tropi.html *"Biomass Production System (BPS)" ISS Program Scientist's Office. 2/8/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100324005944/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/BPS.html#backtoTop *Encyclopædia Britannica. "International Space Station." 2008. (5/14/2008) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/747712/International- Space-Station *"European Modular Cultivation System."
European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20070813142020/http://spaceflight.esa.int/users/index.cfm?act=default.page& level=11&page=fac-iss-dest-emcs *Franzen, Harald. "Space Farming Presents Challenges." Scientific American. 4/11/2001. (5/12/2008) http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=space-farming-presents-ch *Halvorson, Todd. "Lettuce and LEDs: Shedding New Light On Space Farming." Space.com. 9/26/2001. (5/13/2008) http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/light_farming_ 010926.html *Katayami, N. et al. "Entomophagy; a key to space agriculture." Space Agriculture Task Force. (5/13/2008) http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SW8_KSs1zZ0J:surc.isas{{Dead link, date=July 2022 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes . ac.jp/space_agriculture/Archive/PDF/Insect_Eating_ASR2006-g. pdf+eating+insects+space+farming&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client =Firefox-a *Mansfield, Cheryl. "Orbiting Agriculture."
John F. Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field ...
. 10/20/2005. (5/14/2008) http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f_lada.html *"Molecular and Plant Physiological Analyses of the Microgravity Effects on Multigeneration Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana (Multigen)" ISS Program Scientist's Office. 3/21/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100918004023/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ Multigen.html *"Photosynthesis Experiment and System Testing Operation (PESTO)." ISS Program Scientist's Office. 3/14/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100324005220/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/PESTO.html#top *"Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA)." ISS Program Scientist's Office. 12/7/2007. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100918004023/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ PGBA.html *Quinn, Sheri. "Plants as Important in Space as on Earth." Voice of America 4/8/2008. (5/13/2008) http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/2008/space-080408- voa02.htm *
The Kitchen Sisters The Kitchen Sisters are Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, who are National Public Radio radio producers in the United States. About Nelson and Silva met in 1979, in Santa Cruz, California. Silva was curating museum exhibits about local history, ...
. "Beyond Tang: Food in Space." NPR. 6/7/2007. (5/12/2008) https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10792763 *"The Optimization of Root Zone Substrates (ORZS) for Reduced Gravity Experiments Program." ISS Program Scientist's Office. 3/28/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100918004023/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ ORZS.html *"Threshold Acceleration for Gravisensing (Gravi)." ISS Program Scientist's Office. 1/11/2008. (5/14/2008) https://web.archive.org/web/20100918004023/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/ Gravi.html


External links


International Space Station: A First For Space FarmingGreenhouses for MarsSunlight on Mars: Is there enough light on mars to grow tomatoes?Award-winning Mars gardenPlant biology at low atmospheric pressures
in support of Earth-orbital, lunar, or Martian plant growth facilities