NASA displays space station 33 days harvest LED planting vegetables results

Astronauts are about to display their growing space plants at the international space station (photograph: NASA)

Finally, fresh plants grown in microgravity in space have officially landed on the NASA International Space Station astronaut's menu. Team members of the expedition 44 team, including Scott Stott, a Kelly astronaut stationed for one year, are ready to show their harvest in August 10th: the space version of red rose lettuce. The red rose lettuce is a vegetable growing system from the orbiting laboratory.

In the start before the astronauts will use food safety disinfection disinfection towel leaves citric acid base. They will eat half of the harvest, and the other half will be packaged and frozen and brought back to earth for scientific analysis.

NASA's plant experiment, called Veg-01, is used to study the functioning of plants in space orbits, as well as the growth efficiency and the cultivation kit that contains seeds and plants rooted".

NASA continues to give birth to the space station's vegetable technology to provide a vital source of sustainable human food for the future, the manned mission to mars. As NASA embarks on a long-range space exploration mission and goes deeper into the solar system, vegetables will be an important source of food for the astronaut team. And it can also be used as a recreational activity by astronauts in the execution of outer space missions. Before planting, the seeds had remained in space for 15 months. The first cultivation package opened in May 2014 by an expedition 39 flight engineer Stephen history group (Steve Swanson) Wangsen watering, cultivation. On the 33 day after the successful growth, harvest and return to earth in October 2014 at the Kennedy Space Center, and received food safety analysis. Second Veg-01 cultivation packages were opened in July 8th, and Kelly was responsible for 33 days of cultivation and harvest.

NASA plans to grow edible plants in outer space and other planets as food for astronauts. (photo source: NASA)

Vegetable planting system by the Wisconsin Railway Technology Center in the United States (ORBITEC) research and development, and at the Kennedy Space Center after testing, before entering the space. Vegetables and two packs of vine seeds, together with a group of chrysanthemum flowers, were sent to the space station in April 2014 with the SpaceX mission.

The utility model relates to a vegetable unit which can be disassembled and extended, is composed of a shallow flat plate, and is provided with a red, blue and green LED lamp for growth and convenient observation of plants. The concept of using LED lights to plant plants can be traced back to the 1990s NASA program. At that time the senior living plan by ray Weller (Ray Wheeler) led by Dr, R & D in Kennedy research and technology project office.

Dr Weller works with engineers and innovative research projects from the orbital technology center in the United States to develop a vegetable farming system. Gioia, Ma Sha (Gioia Massa) Dr. NASA is located in the Kennedy planting vegetables exclusive scientists. Dr MA and his team developed the space plant and tested it to make sure that it could grow in space. The purple / pink light that comes from the plant system comes from a combination of red and blue lights designed to emit even more light than a green LED light. At the same time, add green LED lamp irradiation, under what the purple light, people feel a little strange appearance, so that plants look more like eating things. "Blue and red wavelengths are essential for plant growth," says Weller. They should be the most efficient color in terms of power conversion to light energy. Green LED helps strengthen the visual effects of the human plant, but it doesn't emit as much light as red and blue lights."

2010 to 2011, Weller, Martha and Gary Stahl (G Torgovnik ary Stutte) has in the NASA environment (Habitat Demonstration Unit) drill units of similar experiments near the Arizona desert area, cultivated plants. Dr. Weller says the vegetable farming system will help NASA learn more about growing plants in controlled agricultural environments. A similar set consists of vertical planting agriculture, this is planted in a stacked hydroponic crops, and with red and blue LED lamp as light source. Such systems are popular in some Asian countries, and the United States has begun to follow up.

"The evidence shows that tomatoes, blueberries and red lettuce are good sources of antioxidants," Weller says. Getting such food in space can be a positive boost to the human mood, as well as a slight reduction in the effects of space radiation on the class." After the first batch of lettuce crops and returned to the space station, Ma Sha began working with a flight doctor team and NASA security representatives to get permission for the astronaut team to eat the crops. "The results of microbiological food safety analysis of Veg-01's romaine lettuce look very good," Ma said." In addition to the nutritional value of plants in space, astronauts on the psychological level to have positive help? NASA Houston's Jansen Space Center (Johnson Space Center) scientist Alexander Vermeer in our study, trying to find the answer.

Vermeer is a scientist in behavioral health and performance research and is involved in the NASA human studies program. Her team is working on the psychological risks of reducing the manned mission to mars. "Vegetable farming experiments are currently the only focus of our research to assess the effects of plant growth on human beings in outer space," Vermeer said." Her team worked on the behavior, performance decline, team communication, and psychological adjustment of space crew members. Vermeer described: "the future space mission may have as many as 6 astronauts living in a confined space for long periods of time, and each other."