How Nasa Is Learning To Grow Plants In Space And On Other Worlds

The trick: try to use less soil

By Loren Grush
Verge
Sep 21, 2018
Photography by Christian Mazza and Cory Zapatka

Excerpt:

When NASA sends humans to Mars, the astronauts are going to need lots of food for the trip. But freeze-dried prepackaged meals for a 2.5-year mission to the Red Planet can take up a lot of weight and room on an interplanetary vehicle. When we go to Mars, weight will be precious. The less we carry with us, the better. Plus, not all of that food is going to be super tasty — or fresh.

That’s why NASA is interested in figuring out ways to supplement astronauts’ diets with plants that can be grown in space or on other worlds. Seeds are much less weighty and spacious than already-prepared food. So scientists at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have been experimenting with how to grow plants and vegetables in simulated space environments. Those include the microgravity environment of the International Space Station and worlds with less gravity than Earth, like the Moon and Mars.

Read the complete article here.