Hydroponics in space is nothing new. Star Trek fans will tell you that Starship Enterprise contained a hydroponics bay which was used to grow a bountiful and ongoing harvest of fruits and vegetables throughout the television series. Meanwhile, when food rations began to run low in an episode of “Star Trek Voyager,” a hydroponics garden was set up in Cargo Bay 2. As the world combats an ongoing food shortage, the fictional events of Star Trek Voyager could be less of a fantasy than we think, with general hydroponics increasingly being seen as a relatively simple and practical way to beat hunger.
In the real world, or somewhere high above it, hydroponics allows astronauts onboard the International Space Station to enjoy fresh produce, including a range of salad greens that are said to be of restaurant quality. Having said that, anything fresh would taste great on the ISS compared to the tubed, bagged and vacuum-packed stuff they’re used to eating.
The hydroponics harvest on the International Space Station is a prelude to something that will take astronauts even further afield. Mars! That trip to Mars, once thought of as a fantasy but now being spoken about as a definite possibility, will require fresh food to keep the passengers inside the spacecraft in top shape…and maybe not just for the journey itself. How about long term habitation somewhere down the track?
This is why NASA has put so much effort into hydroponics on the ISS. They are interested in coming up with ways to supplement astronauts’ diets with plants that can be grown in space vehicles or even on other worlds. So, scientists at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have been experimenting with how to grow plants and vegetables in simulated space environments. Those environments include the microgravity of the International Space Station and places with less gravity than Planet Earth, with the Moon and Mars of particular interest.
Hydroponics is at the core of much of this research. The benefits of hydroponics in space are two-fold: it has the potential to provide a larger variety of food grown in a soil-free environment, and much needed nutrition to go with it. Plus, there’s a long-term biological aspect to consider; a bioregenerative life support system. In very simple terms, this means that as hydroponic plants grow in space, or even another world, they’ll absorb carbon dioxide and stale air and in turn they’ll provide renewed oxygen through the plant’s natural growing process. It’s easy to see that this will be very important for long-range habitation of space stations, and even other planets.
So while earthbound hydroponic equipment specialists look after their very down to earth customers, it’s not too hard to imagine they’ll one day be in demand for space travelling clients who are looking to expand their own horizons and maybe that of all humankind.