According to united states media on 13 may, the establishment of bases on the moon and mars has been a human dream. The establishment of a base is a food problem, and fresh or sophisticated tomatoes are usually the daily food on many family tables. But for astronauts who have been waiting on the moon or mars for more than a year, the most common vegetables on earth are the food that makes them taste three feet. Regardless, according to some scientists, by 2020 or so, space greenhouses will make the dream of growing vegetables on the moon a reality。
Space exploration requires space greenhouses
Scientists pointed out that the best way to address the problem of fresh vegetables being eaten by future astronauts working on the moon and mars bases was to build space greenhouses. Perhaps in the near future, the space greenhouse could provide astronauts with vegetables to meet their daily needs, which, on the other hand, would reduce the cost of long-term space exploration。
If that were the case, the future of spaceships would hardly have to carry frozen food, drinking water or even oxygen. Although this may sound a little distant, in fact, scientists are conducting greenhouse experiments in some of the earth's laboratories and in areas such as the canadian islands of diving and the arctic. Rob phil, director of the centre for research and education in space agro-biotechnologies at the university of florida, said: “if a space exploration mission were to be carried out for another year in the future, astronauts might have enough food and water. But this may be very difficult for mars exploration missions, and we must develop a cycle or bioregent life support system so that plants can regenerate food from our waste. In the process of producing food, we can also produce oxygen and purify water.” the centre for research and training in biotechnologies in space agriculture of the university of florida is located in gainesville and is a research institute under nasa。
It's hard to grow mars
United states president bush presented a new space programme in january this year, claiming that the earliest possible return of astronauts to the moon would be in 2015, followed by the exploration of mars using the moon as a springboard after 2020. However, due to the harsh environment of mars, this poses a great challenge to the survival of greenhouses and the inner plants. In mars, which has a day temperature of 50 degrees fahrenheit and a night temperature of less than 200 degrees fahrenheit, such a large temperature difference is likely to crack the outer structure of the greenhouse and thus prevent the plant from continuing to survive due to the cold internal environment。
In addition, the thin martian atmosphere does not contain ultraviolet radiation and, together with less than 1 per cent of the earth's surface, greenhouse plants are likely to dry up, while affecting the stability of greenhouse structures. The time of light on mars is about half the earth, and scientists may have to make artificial light for plants to grow。
But scientists are not frightened by difficulties, and they are studying genetically modified plants, such as plants that are able to withstand harsh environments such as dark and dry, and are also developing new materials that can change greenhouse structures as the environment changes。
Although scientists know a lot about the surface of the moon, they never did anything to mars soil. As a result of the experiment, it is not clear to scientists whether the soil of mars is harmful to humans and can be used for plant growth. But the good news is that scientists have found evidence of the presence of water in mars. But dr. Michael dixon, director of the center for controlled environmental systems research, professor of environmental biology at the university of gülf, said: “the availability of water and our access to large quantities of water is another problem. If there is no water on mars, how to construct the mars life support system will in fact be a challenge.” but dr. Dixon has not been able to confirm whether plants survive in low pressure environments. He was experimenting with dr. Phil to determine whether it was necessary to eliminate the effects of low pressure on plant growth。
The moon will play the role of a test site
Dr. Wheeler indicated that researchers were currently looking for more effective sources of light to see if there was any need to provide artificial light. And one of the important initial test sites is the moon. He said, “if scientists have any new ideas, they can test the moon, succeed and then carry out the mission of mars, which is more difficult.”
