Space Veggies

When space exploration kicked off in the 1960s, food quality for the astronauts was not at all top notch. They were limited to only tubed foods and pastes, for the food would spoil otherwise, and supplies would run out. Things got a little better by the Gemini missions of 1965, for the menu had expanded to nicer items, such as: “shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, and butterscotch pudding.” Even though that doesn’t sound so bad, one must take into consideration the preparation of those foods. Again, to prevent spoiling, the food had to be dehydrated for the journey, then rehydrated upon consumption with a small nozzle in the packaging that would release a certain liquid.

However, after many years of being forced to eat less-than-satisfactory meals, astronauts finally get to enjoy something a little more fresh. For the first time in history, the International Space Station has produced fresh food, grown on the vessel itself.

The first successfully grown piece of vegetation is a crop of lettuce (seen below.) The lettuce, now known as Veg-01, was a result of Nasa’s plant experimentatioScreen Shot 2015-12-04 at 3.03.48 AMn system in May 2014.

How they made this work was through a “collapsible and expandable unit” that housed the plant under red, blue, and green LED lights. According to Dr. Massa, and agricultural expert working with NASA, the red and blue lights provide the energy needed for the food growth, and the green lights were so the researchers could analyze and observe the plants most efficiently.

Half of the lettuce was tested and eaten by the astronauts, and the other half was setback to America for a more in-depth study on its nutrition. Since those who consumed it responded so positively about the taste and freshness, similar projects are expected to be continued in the future. In fact, NASA haScreen Shot 2015-12-04 at 3.16.18 AMs already come up with concepts involving vegetation growth on Mars.

Not only would this continued method of food production be extremely beneficial in providing fresh and nutritious meals to astronauts on long voyages, it also presents a promising concept of future food growth. Pictured above, Nasa hopes to install small vessels of vegetation growth to test the ability of food to grow in those environments. According to Dr. Massa, numerous experiments are planned to test “crop yield, nutrition, and favor” in these installations. I think this is a great technological advancement that will excel our understanding of food growth in space as well as efficient, sustainable meals for astronaut transportation.