Slashdot Mirror
Green Plants for Mars Mission
An anonymous reader writes "NASA doesn't keep back that they are going to send a human expedition to Mars in a couple of decades. One of the obstacles for the longstanding 35-million-mile voyage is a food production. NASA researchers have focused on 20 plant species that NASA believes could be grown during a flight to Mars and after landing on the fourth planet from the Sun. By far not all of them are suitable for space expedition."
Article Text
NASA faculty fellow researches effect of certain plants on air quality
When earthlings make their first attempt to land on Mars, E. Paul Larrat will be justified in thinking he played a small role in the 35-million-mile voyage.
Larrat, associate dean of the University of Rhode Island's College of Pharmacy, spent much of the summer as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration Faculty Fellow at the Advanced Life Support Center at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
His work focused on 20 plant species that NASA believes could be grown during a flight to Mars and after landing on the fourth planet from the Sun.
Larrat, an East Greenwich resident, was one of 100 fellows chosen from a field of 700 nominees to work at various NASA research centers across the country.
"We looked at all the candidate crops and we tagged a few for potential problems based on the byproducts they gave off," Larrat said.
Larrat, who oversees the research and graduate programs of URI's College of Pharmacy, was assigned to a center that examines issues and problems associated with supporting crews on long-duration flights. "On a three-year trip to Mars, crews are going to have to recycle water, and grow some of their own food. Much of the center's work focuses on making sure the crews don't die because they lack water, air, or food. But it is also concerned with life support processes that could threaten life.
"I worked on the air supply and making sure that it does not become contaminated by the growing of certain plants," Larrat said. "This really fit in well with my public health-epidemiology research work."
He used a gas chromatograph to test what was emitted by small samples of the potential food sources.
"We worked four days a week at the center, and on Wednesday, we had a chance to tour various sites at the Kennedy Space Center," Larrat said. "We had a chance to see workers putting tiles on the shuttle, Endeavor, and the recovery boats that pick up the solid rocket boosters after liftoff.
"To stand under the shuttle and touch it and be a part of the space program was a dream come true, because I have had a lifelong interest in space."
He was fortunate to be at Kennedy for the 35th anniversary celebrations of the Apollo missions. Jim Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13, which had to abort its mission to the moon, spoke while Larrat was at the Kennedy Space Center. "When the astronauts come in, it's like they are rock stars. Many come on their own private jets and then people swarm around them for autographs."
He keeps in contact with his research colleagues, and they are planning to publish their findings and to present them at the International Space Conference next year. They compiled a report of 200 pages.
He said his fellowship also helps pharmacy students see that their options for careers are many. "I know that anyone from our program would be able to succeed in this environment," he said.
"There is already work going on to produce medicines in space, and then to commercialize those products," Larrat said.
"Fifteen years from now when we are heading to Mars, I can say I was a small part of this. And I'd like to think the crew will be healthier because of the work we have done."
Source: University of Rhode Island
Actually, smoking in such a limited atmosphere might overload the air handlers. Brownies would probably be a much better idea.
E pluribus unum
parent is insightful. the linked article provides little information. all that i could find is an article mentioning radishes, green onions, and lettuce as possible candidate species.
A-Day
zucchinia beans
garlic
kudzu
black beans
trumpet vine
sweet potato
bamboo
red beans
spider plant
black-eye beans
redwood
dill
onion
mustard
catnip
fav
stinging nettle
cabbage
thistle
dandilion
Incase you didnt notice yet, physorg.com is a SEO site, they just STEAL content from other sites.
Sometimes its okay, like press releases but sometimes they outright steal from other news sites!!!!
Biosphere 2 was a technical failure. THey had to pump extra oxygen into the system after it was discovered that the extinction rate within the dome was a lot higher than expected. Something like 70% of all species put into the system to begin with died out within the life of the experiment.
Yeah, if you've got a Brookstone near you, they carry them... or search the site for "ecosphere"...
http://www.brookstone.com/
Well, it doesn't taste that bad, if you're eating spirulina, considering how damn good it is for you in the right dosages. Sounds sensible to me. I tease my significant other for drinking "pond scum" in her orange juice, but she doesn't mind the taste at all.
Spirulina does actually taste rather unpleasant. That's why they mix it with orange huice instead of, say, water. Mixed with orange juice I agree, it's really not bad at all, but on its own it really is surprisingly unpleasant.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Theres a NASA program going on at the moment with 12 crew, except this time they are relying on a lot less natural, and going more for mechanical, with a large hydroponics area for food and some oxygen. I think this approach is better for the journey rather than something like Biosphere 2 :)
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
i couldn't find anything on pressure thresholds, but there is an article talking about how turgor pressure effects plant growth. turgor is a biology term that princeton defines better than i do. i'd imagine that the turgor pressure corresponds to atmospheric pressure in slightly different ratios species-to-species... The article also talks about yield threshold, which i think is just the output of good crop. here is more info on what plants NASA wants to grow for their astronauts ( wheat, rice, lettuce, cabbage, soy, potatoes, and others ) and some issues that they are facing ( one article mentions nuts and fruits are difficult ). too bad NASA is really buries their information...
A-Day