Refine Your Search

Search Results

Technical Paper

Life Support Trade Studies Involving Plants

2001-07-09
2001-01-2362
Plants can be grown in space to support human life, providing food, and regenerating water and air. Various groups have demonstrated that plants can support human life on the ground, and that plants can grow in space. One would suppose that plants are also able to support human life in space, though obviously it would be a good idea to demonstrate that ability before committing to a mission requiring bioregeneration. However, plant growth in space requires that we provide the necessary conditions for growth, and this might require not only providing water and fertilizer as we do in terrestrial agriculture, but also a controlled environment and lighting. This would make crops much more costly than we are accustomed to on Earth, where the majority of crops are grown outside and where natural sunlight is generally adequate. On the other hand, providing food, air, and water in space by any other means is also costly.
X