Scientists Harvest First Vegetables in Antarctic Greenhouse (apnews.com)

Scientists in Antarctica have harvested their first crop of vegetables grown without earth, daylight or pesticides as part of a project designed to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other planets. From a report: Researchers at Germany's Neumayer Station III say they've picked 3.6 kilograms (8 pounds) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes grown inside a high-tech greenhouse as temperatures outside dropped below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit). The German Aerospace Center DLR, which coordinates the project, said Thursday that by May scientists hope to harvest 4-5 kilograms of fruit and vegetables a week.

Comments

Re:Has been done before.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

What? Someone wrote a science fiction story not involving light sabers, extra sensory perception, psychic communications, hyperspace, teleporter, talking computers, sentient robots, space shifting aliens, huge red/orange hydrocarbon explosions in deep space, energy cannons with recoil, space craft doing a banking turns through vacuum ...

And Hollywood plunked down money and actually made a movie of that thing! You couldda knocked me down with a feather buddy! Who would have thunk it is possible!! No wonder I mistook it for a documentary.

Re: Has been done before.

[fezzzz]

Antartcica is one of the least disturbed places on earth with an immense magnifying glass of the impact we humans have on the continent. I overwintered in 2006 and 2007 on SANAE base in teams 45 and 46. Everything that goes in, must come back and the risks of contamination, even though remote, prohibited any growing of anything. No chicken bones were part of the food due to the risk of chicken flu for the bird colonies. Regardless of the laws, in a team of 9 members, with no access to the outside world, the team actually decides on the laws for the year. We may or may not have grown something to smoke, made a braai in the kitchen or used the fire extinguishers to fizz our drinks.