NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
1–10 of 15 posts
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#2I wonder what the expense of scaling this would be. Could you blow up a large inflatable greenhouse on the side of the station, for example, to get more growing area. Could you scale to reduce oxygen-demand this way?
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#3This is an interesting from a protocol point of view, but I would like to see something more useful than leaf vegetable -- I imagine months of whatever nutrients this lettuce provides could be supplied by a handful of pills. What about actually calories? I guess with leaf you eat the whole thing, but ... it just feels a bit .. gimicky.
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#4I wonder what the expense of scaling this would be. Could you blow up a large inflatable greenhouse on the side of the station, for example, to get more growing area. Could you scale to reduce oxygen-demand this way?
My first thought in the case of an inflatable greenhouse is that any small piece of debris is going to go straight through it. Not really a very knowledgeable area for me though.
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#5I wonder what the expense of scaling this would be. Could you blow up a large inflatable greenhouse on the side of the station, for example, to get more growing area. Could you scale to reduce oxygen-demand this way?
My first thought in the case of an inflatable greenhouse is that any small piece of debris is going to go straight through it. Not really a very knowledgeable area for me though.
Maybe we could use similar techniques we use for car tires to auto-close holes in them? Like two layers of outer surface and some chemical in between that would react with the air that's rushing out and seal off the hole? I don't know the details about such technologies, but it seems to me that inflatables should be much easier to make self-fixing than hard structures.
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first thought in the case of an inflatable greenhouse is that any small piece of debris is going to go straight through it. Not really a very knowledgeable area for me though.
Maybe we could use similar techniques we use for car tires to auto-close holes in them? Like two layers of outer surface and some chemical in between that would react with the air that's rushing out and seal off the hole? I don't know the details about such technologies, but it seems to me that inflatables should be much easier to make self-fixing than hard structures.
NASA has explored inflatable modules; they used a series of outer layers to reduce the energy of the debris, plus an inner layer made out of Kevlar.
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#7Original Source:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/meal...
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#8I wonder what the expense of scaling this would be. Could you blow up a large inflatable greenhouse on the side of the station, for example, to get more growing area. Could you scale to reduce oxygen-demand this way?
Are there any nutritious vegetables that can grow at high altitudes? You could keep the greenhouse at a lower pressure.
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#9The quote from the radio story on NPR was:
"That's one small bite for a man, one giant leaf for mankind."
Re: NASA Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first thought in the case of an inflatable greenhouse is that any small piece of debris is going to go straight through it. Not really a very knowledgeable area for me though.
Maybe we could use similar techniques we use for car tires to auto-close holes in them? Like two layers of outer surface and some chemical in between that would react with the air that's rushing out and seal off the hole? I don't know the details about such technologies, but it seems to me that inflatables should be much easier to make self-fixing than hard structures.
The layers would have to be transparent, which greatly increases the difficulty of the challenge. Unless, of course, the plants were grown using artificial light rather than natural light. In that case you wouldn't need a greenhouse at all, but instead a wall of solar panels to power the added utility demand.