Maximum Yield Cannabis Canada 2017 November/December | Page 30

growing food in space
The use-it-up-and-then-use-it-again concept is imperative.
For instance, a dozen 1,000W sodium vapour lights generate a
lot of heat, which can then be siphoned away by each lamp’s
cooling system and used to heat the station. Their goal is
to minimize labour needs, reduce resource use, and recycle
everything to operate as efficiently as possible.
The lunar greenhouse contains about 220 pounds of wet plant
material that provides several dozen litres of potable water
and close to a pound of oxygen during a 24-hour period.
As they close out the NASA contract, Giacomelli says,
“Here’s a workable structure, or rather, a possible series
of four structures joined by an interconnecting hallway.
Phil’s contention was that you don’t generally send one
astronaut, but perhaps four, so that each one of these
capsules can supply half the calories, as well as oxygen
and fresh water, for one astronaut on a daily basis.”
The prototype is covered with a specialized
polyethylene commercially available to greenhouses.
“We just used it to create an envelope around our crop
production. Someone else will have to develop a thick
durable multi-layer material to surround the unit, like a
space suit for veggies instead of people.”
There are many lessons learned, including, surprisingly, an
“aha!” moment involving esthetics more than pure science.
“Our greenhouse validated the importance of fresh vegetable
colours that can’t be duplicated and the effects of a green
plant or a ruby red fruit, like a tomato or a strawberry, for
people living and working in an extreme environment such
as space,” Giacomelli says. “Think of the fact that they’ll
be living in a contraption, an artificially lit structure where
they’ll seldom see the sun. Here, they can go into a garden
space, which is also their food and water supply, their life
support, and it gives them psychological benefits. Even as we
automated the process, people still want that connection to
be part of the cycle… to touch the plants and breathe in the
aromas in an otherwise lifeless environment.”
Adds Sadler, “Humans can go into the growth chamber and
smell vegetables and flowers and see living green things…
a necessity to break up the monotony of thousands of square
miles of desolate terrain surrounding their completely
man-made environment.”
With good science developed over the life of the Mars-Lunar
Greenhouse Project and so many questions remaining to be
answered, it seems a shame to just power it down and let the
plants shrivel. But that’s one potential reality.
“Do we just give up?” asks Giacomelli. “I don’t think so. We
may not move ahead the way NASA had wanted us to, but we
still have a large-scale laboratory for others who have ideas
on how to improve such a system. We know how to stretch
dollars, so it’s not like we’re disappearing completely. We’ve
got Band-Aids we can apply to keep the lights and power on,
like a small grant from Philips Lighting Company to put their
LEDs in the chamber, but if we have to shut down, major recon-
structive surgery would have to await further funding.
“
IT’S COLLAPSIBLE AND STOWABLE SO IT
CAN BE SHIPPED, AND IN THE DISTANT
FUTURE, BE AUTOMATICALLY DEPLOYED
ANYWHERE BEFORE HUMAN BEINGS
FROM THIS PLANET ARRIVE TO
INHABIT A DISTANT LAND.”
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feature
LED lighting produces an eerie aura on potatoes being grown in the Mars-
Lunar Greenhouse.