Growing Food in Space

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Growing Food in Space

Seedhouse, Erik

As long as there have been astronauts, there have been processed, prepackaged space rations. Processed fruits, prepackaged nuts, irradiated shrimp cocktail, sterilized chicken stew, fluffernutter (a favorite food item of Sunita Williams; I had no idea what this food – if it indeed can be categorized as a food – was until I showed my students a video wherein Sunita explained the items stored in the pantry on International Space Station), you name it. These space rations are heated, freeze-dried, irradiated, thermostabilized, and subjected to just about every processing process known to man. This is a problem because prepackaged space foods are sometimes deficient in nutrients (e.g., potassium and vitamin K), and whatever nutrients they do contain may degrade over time (e.g., vitamin B1 and vitamin C). But now, thanks to plant growth experiments being flown on orbit, it may soon be possible for crop production to be integrated into life support systems of future spacecraft, thereby allowing astronauts to supplement a stored and packaged diet with freshly grown vegetables.