While travelling to the moon and Mars, astronauts will have to grow their own food and those technological advances can help food production on Earth too.
This article by Ajwal Dsouza, University of Guelph and Thomas Graham, University of Guelph originally appeared on the Conversation and is published here with permission.
For example, agriculture has been improved significantly through the application of space-based advances to terrestrial challenges. It is now increasingly likely that food items have been produced with the assistance of space-based technologies, like freeze-dried foods, or through the use of crop monitoring from space-based observatories.Satellite monitoring is arguably the most realized benefit of space for farming.
Researchers at NASA sent cotton seeds to the International Space Station to understand how cotton roots grow in the absence of gravity. The findings of the research will help develop cotton plant varieties with a deeper root system to access and absorb water more efficiently from soil in drought-prone areas.Soon, humans will go to the moon and eventually to Mars. While there, astronauts will have to grow their own food.
As crops are grown indoors in controlled environments, vertical farms can substantially reduce the reliance on herbicides and pesticides, while recycling water and preventing nutrient runoff.Considering the constraints of space, crop production techniques need to be more energy-efficient and require minimal human input. Crops need to also be nutrition-rich, with the ability to withstand high-stress environments. These features are also desirable for crops on Earth.
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