It's been nearly ten years since a popular lunch was eaten aboard the International Space Station. At that time, the astronauts sat down at the table for a meal featuring the first food grown and harvested in space: in this case, lettuce.
Years passed and technology in this sense developed more and more. So much so that this week NASA announced its new plan to grow food. It's called Lunar Effects on Agricultural Plants (LEAF), and it will be included in the Artemis III mission, which will take place in 2026.
As digital trends indicate, it is important that the plan succeeds. This is because there may be future missions in which large quantities of food cannot be transported. Therefore, it is important to find alternative ways to feed astronauts.
It is the first test to monitor the photosynthesis process of plants on the moon
Speaking more specifically about LEAF, its mission will be to investigate the influence of the lunar surface on alien cultures. According to the same source, this will be the first test to monitor the photosynthesis process of plants, their growth, and their responses to space radiation.
Having said that, one question remains: How do plants evolve in space? As the space lab mentioned, there will be a plant growth room with an isolated atmosphere. Thus, the plant is protected from excess light and radiation.
Although it's an innovative study, remember that this isn't the first time plants have been grown on the moon. As Digital Trends points out, in 2019, China grew cotton.
It is hoped that this experiment will allow us to understand how agriculture can be used in space
Christine Escobar, Vice President of the Space Laboratory, believes that this experience could be very useful. For her, this could be “an essential step toward understanding how we can use space agriculture to support human crews, paving the way for sustainable lunar exploration and even missions to Mars” (via Digital Trends).
In addition to the LEAF project, NASA intends to conduct other experiments on the Artemis III mission. The goal with the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) is to study the seismic environment on the Moon, and using the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer (LDA), the goal is to measure the propagation strength of the electric field of the lunar soil.
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