A high-tech 'kitchen garden' may be the answer to the worry about what astronauts may eat on a long journey to Mars.
Astronauts on the first manned missions to Mars could tend “kitchen gardens” of salad and vegetables onboard spaceships, scientists claim.
Maya R Cooper, a senior research scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston, Texas, says that feeding astronauts could be one of the greatest challenges to the first manned mission to Mars.
Cooper explained that the challenges of provisioning space vehicles and Martian surface bases begin with tangible factors, such weight and nutrition, and encompass psychological nuances, such as providing a varied, tasty menu that wards off boredom.
Experts say the crops would not only give crews healthy food to eat during the long journey to the red planet, but would also improve the atmosphere onboard by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.
These gardens, maintained by the astronauts, can give all the necessary fruits and veggies during the mission. The only weight added to the shuttle will be seeds. Currently, the list consists of lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, spring onions, radishes, peppers, strawberries, herbs and cabbage.
Space food has evolved from freeze-dried blocks and gooey messes - squeezable from toothpaste-like tubes - since the advent of space travel in the early 1960s. These days, astronauts are able to select their own menus in advance of the mission, which features rehydratable, thermostabilized, irradiated and natural form items, according to NASA's Web site.
Maya R Cooper, a senior research scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston, Texas, says that feeding astronauts could be one of the greatest challenges to the first manned mission to Mars.
Cooper explained that the challenges of provisioning space vehicles and Martian surface bases begin with tangible factors, such weight and nutrition, and encompass psychological nuances, such as providing a varied, tasty menu that wards off boredom.
Experts say the crops would not only give crews healthy food to eat during the long journey to the red planet, but would also improve the atmosphere onboard by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.
These gardens, maintained by the astronauts, can give all the necessary fruits and veggies during the mission. The only weight added to the shuttle will be seeds. Currently, the list consists of lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, spring onions, radishes, peppers, strawberries, herbs and cabbage.
Space food has evolved from freeze-dried blocks and gooey messes - squeezable from toothpaste-like tubes - since the advent of space travel in the early 1960s. These days, astronauts are able to select their own menus in advance of the mission, which features rehydratable, thermostabilized, irradiated and natural form items, according to NASA's Web site.
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