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The challenge of food provision in a human-tended Lunar/Martian base necessitates the development of stable, nutritious and palatable foods from limited plant sources. The ability to safely prepare and store a wide variety of foods having physiological and psychological acceptability, with a limited number of starting materials, plays a prime role in the success of long-term missions. Since wheat has been proposed as one of the major crops to be grown on space outposts, this project focuses on identifying novel ways to process food products from wheat under vacuum conditions. Vacuum has not been sufficiently exploited for food processing, and space vacuum can be capitalized for selected food processes. Two techniques currently under investigation are vacuum baking and extrusion. Vacuum oven baking minimizes the need for extensive proofing and/or chemical leavening and decreases preparation time.

Conversion of lunar regolith into a plant growth medium is crucial to the development of a regenerative life support system for a lunar base. Plants, which are the core of such a system, are a source of food and oxygen for humans and a sink for carbon dioxide and other wastes. Because of the the shortage of lunar regolith, simulants were used for examining its suitability for plant growth. Dissolution studies of Minnesota Lunar Simulant (MLS), a prepared finely-ground basalt, were conducted to measure solution species, to assess the levels of plant nutrients and toxic elements, and to identify the minerals controlling these levels. MLS weathered in shaker flasks over a 150 d period yielded basic solutions of pH near 9.0 buffered by calcite. Most elemental concentrations were within the range for typical alkaline terrestrial soil solutions.

Conversion of lunar regolith into a plant growth medium is crucial to the development of a regenerative life support system for a lunar base. Simulants must be used to study weathering processes and to develop procedures for the conversion of lunar regolith into a suitable plant growth medium because of the shortage of actual lunar materials. Dissolution studies have been conducted for Johnson Space Center Lunar Simulant-1 (JSCLS-1) to assess levels of plant nutrients and toxic elements. Weathering in water for 150 4 in the presence of atmospheric oygen and carbon dioxide, yielded alkaline solutions with pH near 8.8. Concentrations of most plant nutrients were at levels normally considered acceptable for plant growth. However, nitrogen was deficient, and phosphorus was present at levels typical of unfertilized soils. DTPA extracts indicated possible manganese and zinc deficiencies. Solution metals were at concentrations far below those generally harmful to plants.

Structures for use on the Moon and/or Mars face similar requirements and design criteria despite the differences in the corresponding environmental conditions. In both cases, the internal pressure is the dominant load and, therefore, the structure is a pressure vessel. A generic inflatable module is proposed as an efficient and functional structure for a lunar/Martian base. Each module consists of thin membranes supported by an inflated framing system. Module characteristics, including component dimensions, membrane thicknesses and overall mass, are presented.

A BRIC (Biological Research In a Canister) experiment to investigate the effects of reduced gravity at the molecular level using Arabidopsis has been initiated. To ensure an efficient BRIC experiment, a series of ground-based studies have been conducted. These studies were designed to determine: 1) the ideal seed density to obtain enough plant tissue from a single canister; 2) optimum germination surface for tissue recovery after freezing in liquid nitrogen; 3) yield and quality of mRNA from small amounts of tissue; 4) time point to freeze the seedlings; and 5) changes in gene expression that may be caused by stresses during launch.