For the first time , cosmonaut on card the International Space Station ( ISS ) have enjoyed crunch down on solid food they have grow themselves . That ’s a really special achievement regard the three thing required for growing food – soil , piddle and sun – are in short provision when orbiting 400 kilometre above the Earth .
It was one low pungency for Isle of Man , one giant jump for#NASAVEGGIEand our#JourneytoMars.#YearInSpacehttps://t.co / B7Gkfm1Vz0
— Scott Kelly ( @StationCDRKelly)August 10 , 2015
Having invigorated food on the ISS is a delicacy . When supplying ships arrive on the station , they generally carry a limited quality of fresh fruits and vegetables , such as apples and carrots . These perishable treat must be eaten quickly .
But , this is something more . Anyone who has ever raise their own nutrient , will also hump the delight of things tasting better when you ’ve been the one tending the garden .
How Does Your Garden Grow ?
In space , astronauts useaeroponicsto produce their garden . The plants are develop mostly in gentle wind , with just a very little amount of nutrient rich water . Sunlight is put up by a savings bank of cherry-red , blue and green LED lights . The plant in reality gain enough energy to get from the red and blue lights alone . But this makes the lettuce a weird royal colour . greenish light-emitting diode lights , which are less effective , were added to make the lettuce more attractive to eat . ( It ’s a little know fact thatsunlight flower in light-green visible light ) .
examination of the Veggie system prototype as it grows red romaine lettuce on Earth . NASA / Bryan Onate
The horticulture system was prepare and tested on the dry land by Orbital Technologies Corporation ( ORBITEC ) . The scheme was then vanish up to the ISS on aSpaceX resupply missionin April 2014 . It also admit three sets of seed pillow : two containing wampum seeds and one withzinniaflower seeds .
The first set of lettuce seeds were successfully grown in May 2014 . But after harvesting , the plant were frozen and returned to Earth that October . Since the plant are spring up in the open gentle wind of the ISS there was a penury to try out them for any germ and ensure that such food would be good for the astronauts to eat .
Having passed the solid food safety analysis , the 2nd crop of lettuce , grown last month , could be added to the astronauts ' menu . However , even then only half could be eaten , the other was set apart to return to Earth for depth psychology .
Space Gardening
One of the obvious outcomes of being able to eat solid food raise in space is the potential difference to be ego - sufficient on long outer space journeys , such as a trip-up to Mars . But NASA scientists are also wait into the importantpsychological benefitsof tending a garden in space .
Looking after a garden provides meaningful everyday employment and it ’s also a way to de - stress and unwind . Personally , I ’m not a great nurseryman , but I still lovingly remember the awful veggie - patch that take up most of the backyard of the first share - house I ever hold up in . At that time I was studying for my PhD and incline to that garden was a great safety valve from the intense work . And there was a simple joy in consume what we grow .
conceive of how important a quad - garden could become and the value and impact it would have on a long - duration space voyage . There ’s also the delight of having something immature and growing – a footling piece of Earth – when not only are you far from habitation but also so removed from nature .
“ There ’s nothing like the tone of survive greenish in this timberland of engineered machinery , ” the American cosmonaut Don Pettit write in an update to his blogDiary of a Space Zucchini .
Back in 2012 , Pettit grew his own vegetables as a fun personal science project during a five - calendar month Erolia minutilla on the ISS . Using zip - lock dish Pettit successfully develop a sunflower , Brassica oleracea italica and courgette . These vegetable would not terminate up on the dinner table . rather , Zucchini became a valued crew member and even had his own web log .
A piddling piece of Earth float on - board the ISS . NASA / Don Pettit
“ I noticed that Sunflower and Broccoli are still with us and we are all part of the bunch , ” heupdated in March 2012 .
“ We may be leafless stalks but are germinate novel tiny foliage - buds . They are a vivacious green and make for a smiling to Gardener ’s face . Did I mark a little bit of H2O in the corner of his eyes ? ”
Take time to terminate and smell the flower . NASA / Don Pettit
To the astronaut , as they gathered around for tiffin on Monday this week , it may have been just a tiny bit of nursing home - grown salad to lighten up the daytime . But in the across-the-board setting , that pocket-sized lettuce leaf is a symbol of potentially great thing to add up . Perhaps one Clarence Day , there will be sweet food to nourish outer space - faring astronauts and the occupation of growing that food to nurture their well - being .
jubilate in the sun - Silent Running
Tanya Hillis Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and Senior Curator ( Astronomy ) atMuseum Victoria .
This clause was in the beginning published onThe Conversation . scan theoriginal article .
