Space Garden

Have they done any growing of vegetables yet in space? Is it possible?
Do the plants know which way is up? Do they use human waste for fertilizer?
Do they need plant lights?
I have not seen any recent reports on this.

--
The tobacco companies added ingrediants to make it more addicting to
increase consumption. The food companies would never do that, right? Right?
Right?

A quick google search turns up a number of results:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ce&btnG=Search

Also, Elon Musk had plans to self-finance a mission to put an
experimental greenhouse on the surface of Mars, but decided to start
SpaceX instead when he realized that launch costs would be the primary
cost component:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=3698

Rodney Kelp wrote:
Have they done any growing of vegetables yet in space? Is it possible?
Do the plants know which way is up? Do they use human waste for fertilizer?
Do they need plant lights?
I have not seen any recent reports on this.

It's technically possible.

The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
into about a kilo a day per person.
Now, you have to work out if you can fit your garden into a smaller mass than
this, it's not a easy task.

Ian Stirling wrote in message ...

It's technically possible.

The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
into about a kilo a day per person.
Now, you have to work out if you can fit your garden into a smaller mass than
this, it's not a easy task.

But you can use the garden again.

And get rid of waste water, perhaps use some local materials (Moon/Mars).

Regards

Carsten Nielsen
Denmark

In article ,
says...
Rodney Kelp wrote:
Have they done any growing of vegetables yet in space? Is it possible?
Do the plants know which way is up? Do they use human waste for fertilizer?
Do they need plant lights?
I have not seen any recent reports on this.

It's technically possible.

The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
into about a kilo a day per person.
Now, you have to work out if you can fit your garden into a smaller mass than
this, it's not a easy task.

What's life like living on a kilo a day? Baby food out of a tube?

Marc

In article ,
Marc 182 wrote:
The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
into about a kilo a day per person...

What's life like living on a kilo a day? Baby food out of a tube?

Baby food and/or tube food is almost all water, the last thing you want
for efficient packaging.

You'd eat freeze-dried or dehydrated food -- quite like what you'd eat on
a backpacking trip, perhaps packaged a bit differently -- rehydrated with
recycled water. Uninspired, but reasonably varied and pleasant, menus.
Occasionally, as a break from routine, a bit of frozen whole food or a
vegetable or two grown on board. (It *is* worth growing a few plants,
partly as a diversion and partly to add some variety, although they
wouldn't be a major component of the diet.)

Yes, recycled water. Nobody, but nobody, gets by on a kilogram a day
without water recycling. You need more than that just in drinking water,
and when you figure in showering, dishwashing, and laundry, you've got to
recycle almost all of it.

You can recover enough *potable* water for drinking and food preparation
from air dehumidification, using water vapor from washing as well as from
people. You need enough non-potable water -- sterile and safe but perhaps
not looking pure or tasting good -- to require recycling all three kinds
of wash water, and recovering most of the water from urine.

You can accept some small water losses, because human metabolism converts
food to CO2 and water, so any system which isn't doing food recycling
shows a water excess. So you don't need to recover water from solid
wastes, and you don't need full recovery from urine.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

(Henry Spencer) wrote:

:You'd eat freeze-dried or dehydrated food -- quite like what you'd eat on
:a backpacking trip, perhaps packaged a bit differently -- rehydrated with
:recycled water. Uninspired, but reasonably varied and pleasant, menus.
:Occasionally, as a break from routine, a bit of frozen whole food or a
:vegetable or two grown on board. (It *is* worth growing a few plants,
artly as a diversion and partly to add some variety, although they
:wouldn't be a major component of the diet.)

You can get by quite well on a kilo or so of food a day. Troops in
the field do it all the time and they're burning quite a bit of
energy.

We figure it takes on the order of 6+ pounds a day to keep troops in
the field over the short term. The majority of that weight is water.

:You can accept some small water losses, because human metabolism converts
:food to CO2 and water, so any system which isn't doing food recycling
:shows a water excess. So you don't need to recover water from solid
:wastes, and you don't need full recovery from urine.

In addition to this, if you're using fuel cells for some of your
power, you're producing water there as well. You do have to refuel
those cells, but then the mass you're lifting is doing 'double duty'.

--
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
-- Charles Pinckney

In article ,
Fred J. McCall wrote:
:You can accept some small water losses, because human metabolism converts
:food to CO2 and water...

In addition to this, if you're using fuel cells for some of your
power, you're producing water there as well. You do have to refuel
those cells, but then the mass you're lifting is doing 'double duty'.

A spacecraft that's up there long enough to be doing water recycling is
*probably* going to be solar-powered; fuel-cell reactants simply weigh too
much. Gemini and Apollo used fuel cells mostly because their basic design
was fixed at a time when solar arrays were still in their infancy. (Note
that Soyuz, designed only a few years later, uses solar power.)
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

Marc 182 wrote:
In article ,
says...
Rodney Kelp wrote:
Have they done any growing of vegetables yet in space? Is it possible?
Do the plants know which way is up? Do they use human waste for fertilizer?
Do they need plant lights?
I have not seen any recent reports on this.

It's technically possible.

The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
into about a kilo a day per person.
Now, you have to work out if you can fit your garden into a smaller mass than
this, it's not a easy task.

What's life like living on a kilo a day? Baby food out of a tube?

Yes, but its a way of spending only kilobucks per day on food.


Marc

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

Marc 182 wrote:

:In article ,
says...
:
: The hurdle you run into right up front is that fairly trivially you can,
: using technology known since the 1950s, get all the supplies you need
: into about a kilo a day per person.
: Now, you have to work out if you can fit your garden into a smaller mass than
: this, it's not a easy task.
:
:What's life like living on a kilo a day? Baby food out of a tube?

It's wrong in any event. You need that much WATER a day.

--
"Rule Number One for Slayers - Don't die."
-- Buffy, the Vampire Slayer