When humans eventuallygo to Mars , or even further into the Solar System , one thing that will be essential to their endurance is the ability to arise their own food and be self - sustainable on farsighted - length missions . And now a of the essence step has been made toward that end on theInternational Space Station(ISS ) .
astronaut on the ISS are about to tuck into food rise in field for the first time . They will be eat red cos loot from a works growing system calledVeggie . The lettuce leaves will be cleaned with sanitizing wipes containing citric Zen before they are eaten . Half the bountifulness will be eat on by the crowd on the ISS , and the other one-half send back to Earth for analysis .
“ The farther and longer humans go aside from Earth , the greater the need to be able to grow flora for food , atmosphere recycling and psychological benefit , ” said Gioia Massa , the NASA payload scientist for Veggie at the Kennedy Space Centre ( KSC ) , in astatement . “ I call up that works systems will become important ingredient of any long - continuance exploration scenario . ”
The Veggie system apply colored LEDs to help the plant grow , a method first formulate in the 1990s . carmine and blue lights were used as they emit the most light-colored , but green light-emitting diode were also used so that the plants grew with a more appetizing color , rather than appearing purpleness . It took 33 days for this stack of lettuce to turn .
“ Blue and red wavelength are the minimum needed to get good plant growth , ” said Ray Wheeler , leash for Advanced Life Support activity in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs Office at KSC , in astatement . “ They are credibly the most efficient in terminal figure of electrical magnate conversion . The green LED aid to enhance the human optical percept of the plants , but they do n’t put out as much light source as the reds and blue air . ”
This is actually the 2d batch of lettuce grown on the ISS . The first was cultivated in May 2014 but was sent back for analytic thinking on Earth in a SpaceX Dragon abridgment to mark that it was comestible . With it confirmed safe to corrode , the current crowd – Expedition 44 – grew this 2nd batch , and will now take one giant leafage for humans ( sorry ) .
