The Japanese space agency JAXA reported that a successful experiment on cultivating plants in an isolated environment under microgravity conditions was carried out on the ISS on the Kibo module. Each plant was grown in a small sealed plastic bag without soil or other substrate. This technology can be used to grow leafy vegetables at lunar bases and to provide astronauts with food on long-distance space flights.
The experiment was carried out for 48 days from August 27 to October 13, 2021. All this time, nutrient fluid was supplied to the packages and gas exchange was ensured. True lettuce leaves were confirmed on 10 September and the vegetable continued to grow steadily until harvest. For cultivation, a folding container, convenient for sending into space, was developed, a system for monitoring plant nutrition and tracking their growth.
Growing plants in individual sealed bags helps maintain a sterile environment and prevent disease. This will be all the more important in the case of large-scale space greenhouses, when the health and lives of colonists and crews will depend on the health of the landings. In this case, the cultivation system is housed in a compact, simple equipment, which provides easy maintenance, energy saving and flexible control of the production volume. Finally, the tightness of the cultivation environment prevents the spread of odors and the danger of allergic reactions in the closed environment of space dwellings.
On the basis of the data obtained, the advantages and applicability of the proposed growing method in space will be assessed. Also, a study of the hygienic safety of the crop and analysis of the culture medium will be carried out to study the possibility of its reuse in the environmental control systems and life support of the ISS. Simply put, the possibility of including hydro and gas exchange of the cultivation medium with the station environment and its resources for the regeneration of water and air will be studied.
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