Space salad? Even children would eat these types of vegetables. But so far, the honor has only gone to the astronauts on the International Space Station ISS, who set a new milestone by growing the first food in space (Project Veggie). It is a new step in training humans for a mission on Mars and an idea that has been toyed with in many films, the latest of which is The Martian.
They are astronauts on the International Space Station ISS produced the first space food, which is a small step for the astronauts, who were able to enjoy fresh food in space for the first time, and a big one for humanity, because according to the American space agencies Us that means we will be able to grow food in space and thus more easily spent months or years away from Earth. And which vegetable was the first to grow and end up on a plate in space?
Radic. This was grown in a special greenhouse with a label Veg-01, which was delivered to the ISS by space the Dragon vessel. They are plants 33 days grown in special cushions with seeds, soil, fertilizer and water and kept in a low-gravity room with constant light with a blue, red and green LED bulb (this led to photosynthesis, growing and green in color), and germination began after he "awakened" the seeds Scott Kelly, one of the current residents of the International Space Station.
But even before the radicchio leaves wandered into the mouths of the astronaut team, they cleaned with sanitary wipes for disinfection. Only half of the crop ended up on the plate, as there will be one half frozen pilgrimage to Earth after additional analysis. There was already space lettuce on these, which was grown outside our atmosphere last year, but the astronauts did not eat it, but successfully passed food safety tests.
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By pulling man further and further away from the Earth, he the need for self-sufficiency in space increases, and with this kind of technology, we could soon start growing vegetables that have fruits above the ground. Mars, here we come!
More information:
nasa.gov