Monday of 2015/8/10 on the
International Space Station is a special day for lettuce to be officially
introduced on the menu for NASA astronauts. This isn't just any lettuce. It's
part of a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce grown on the
space station.
"Fresh food grown in the
microgravity environment of space officially is on the menu for the first time
for NASA astronauts," NASA said in a statement. It’s not the first time
food was grown on a space station, it made clear. "For decades, NASA and
other agencies have experimented with plants in space, but the results were
always sent to earth for examination, rather than eaten," NASA said.
The astronauts get plenty of prepared
foods shipped up by supply ships. But NASA needs to figure out how to grow food
on spacecraft -- and on other planets -- for future deep space missions such as
the one planned to Mars. The space agency plans to send humans to an asteroid
by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.Besides, gardening is fun on Earth, and NASA
said astronauts likely will use it as a recreational activity on long missions.
The lettuce was grown
aeroponically--in an air or mist environment without soil--in the space station's
Veggie plant growth system. Plants grown aeroponically require far less water
and fertilizer, don't need pesticide, are much less prone to disease, and grow
up to three times faster than plants grown in soil, NASA said.
The developing root systems grow in an
enclosed, air-based environment that is regularly misted with a fine,
nutrient-rich spray. A grower clips the
leaves of plants grown in the openings of an aeroponic chamber.
Aeroponic growing systems provide
clean, efficient, and rapid food production. Crops can be planted and harvested
in the system year round without interruption, and without contamination from
soil, pesticides, and residue. Since the growing environment is clean and
sterile, it greatly reduces the chances of spreading plant disease and
infection commonly found in soil and other growing media.
Aeroponics systems can reduce water
usage by 98 percent, fertilizer usage by 60 percent, and pesticide usage by 100
percent, all while maximizing crop yields. Plants grown in the aeroponic systems
have also been shown to uptake more minerals and vitamins, making the plants
healthier and potentially more nutritious.
Taiwan Chicfarm (www.chicfarm.net)has
successfully applied this technique and transformed it into an aeroponics home
garden. With technology like this, jumping over the moon or eating pure clean,
no pesticide vegetables won't be reserved for fairy tales.
The aeroponics system was tested at
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the plants were checked for safety. Still,
half the crew's harvest will be sent back to Earth for more testing. And to be
even safer, the astronauts will clean the lettuce with citric acid-based,
food-safe sanitizing wipes before eating it.
The crew seems excited about the
lettuce. Astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren took to Twitter to share
images of their crop. Kelly and Lindgren are the only two NASA astronauts on
the space station now. The other crew members are Russians Gennady Padalka,
Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui. Maybe
Kelly and Lindgren will save them enough lettuce for at least a side salad.
