Astrobotany: The Connection Between Space Exploration and Eco Friendly Living
No mater if you are into Aquaponics; Farming; Gardening or anything else Green, believe me there is a connection to space exploration, and not just one, but several. This is gonna be just a short overview, or otherwise this article would just be too long. okay, lets get started.
If we going to do long term Space Travel and colonization, we have to feed the crew. Period. That simple. As you can imagine, endless supply lines with cargo ships isn't gonna do the trick. Just not practical. We need something on site, just like here on earth, something recyclable and something that doesn't need a whole lot of resupplying. That's where aquaculture, more specific Aquaponics comes into play. A closed circuit Aquaponics system can produce needed vegetables and a variety of seafood, it doesn't need a lot of "topping off", and powered with solar panels, its gonna be almost self sustaining. As I said before, we will get into details with other articles along the way.
Now, lets look at Farming and Gardening in space. Aquaponics is fine, but we also need some sustainable food production at the site of any colony. Of course, at the beginning it will probably be more on a gardening scale, rather than a large farming operation. There is of course the question of soil availability and quality. However, with new technology and some twisting of the available soil, its not gonna be too difficult to produce healthy sturdy growing beds. A few flowers, to lighten up the decoration would be nice too. NASA, several universities, as well as private space companies have already started to run experiments along those lines.
Comments
Post a Comment