NASA has introduced LED lights to allow astronauts to eat vegetables in space

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed that the LED growth lamp will be used to grow tomatoes and fresh salad leaves to provide food for astronauts on the international space station.

The researchers made a growing room in Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and dimmed the LED lighting system to provide the best conditions when the system was eventually installed at the international space station.

The team is adjusting the lighting conditions to optimize the growth of plants under various conditions and then replicate these scenes in the advanced plant habitat (AdvancedPlant Habitat) of the international space station to meet the complex needs of producing food in space.

Through radiation of light at different wavelengths, the plant growth cycle can be controlled and accelerated so that plants can be harvested more frequently or according to the needs. A special light formula can not only optimize the production and growth time, but also increase the content of vitamins and nutrients in plants, and can enhance some flavors. LED can not only provide tailored bioactive lighting, but also very effective.

The researchers used OSRAM's Phytofy RL system, which includes a UV channel that allows researchers to add short ultraviolet rays to understand how plants react and change. It also includes a irradiance graph so that scientists do not need to measure irradiance separately before changing the light settings.

In recent years, NASA has been exploring the possibility of growing food crops under controlled environments for long space missions. A research team led by NASA, a plant physiologist, Ray Wheeler, has been studying how to effectively plant safe, fresh food crops in space.

Recently, astronauts at the international space station have harvested and eaten a variety of red lettuce that grew in a plant growth system called Veggie.

"Many of the coolest and most beneficial inventions in the world over the past few decades are scientists from NASA," said OSRAM's Steve Graves. It is an honor to use our technology to further promote innovation. "

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