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Astronauts' meals have come a long way from the freeze-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago: now US scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the Moon.
Although space fare has steadily improved over time, a team of scientists says the best is yet to come. They look forward to when residents of future lunar or even Martian outposts can dine on luxuries such as fresh vegetables.
Paragon Space Development Corporation has unveiled what it called the first step toward growing flowers -- and eventually food -- on the Moon. Paragon, an Arizona company that has partnered with NASA in previous experiments on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, calls it a "Lunar Oasis".
This is a sealed greenhouse that looks like a bell jar encased in a 1.5 foot (46-centimetre) tall triangular aluminum frame. It is designed to safely land a laboratory plant on the lunar surface, and protect it while it grows.
The miniature greenhouse is to be launched into space by Odyssey Moon Ltd, a participant in the Google Lunar X Prize. Paragon officials say future testing of the "Lunar Oasis" will be driven by Odyssey's flight schedule, which will not happen until 2012 at the earliest. When it does lift off the greenhouse will contain the seeds of Brassica.
"Colonizing the Moon or Mars seems so far away, but it is important that we do this research now." Paragon president Jane Poynter told AFP.
"This isn't science fiction," said Gene A. Giacomelli, a professor at the University of Arizona Department of Plant Sciences, "We have the technology to sustain life on the other planets right now, if we could get there."
There are many challenges to growing plants in space, but the biggest is finding enough water on site to support a permanent outpost. ■AFP
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