Norway to grow food crops in space

thelocal.no ^ | 21 Nov 2014 10:33 GMT+01:00

[BenLurkin]

The research team has not yet decided what plants they will try and grow, but are looking at tomatoes, lettuce and soybeans.

The Trondheim research unit has been trying to grow plants in space since 2006. Under the Norwegian research team's guidance, plant growing experiments were carried out at the International Space Station (ISS). The research focused on the flowering weed, Arabidopsis thaliana.

...

"One of the big challenges is to administer exactly the right amount of water and nutrients to the plants in such little gravity,” said Kittang Jost to Science Nordic.

Researchers from the MELISSA space program believe a closed ecosystem can be fully functional in space by 2050. With this goal in mind, the Norwegian researchers' work is a critical part of giving space explorers the means to survive and eat in a self-sustaining fashion, many thousands of miles away from Earth.

[bramps]

Wasn’t this an episode of Gilligan’s Island?

[KarlInOhio]

Kudzu in space!

[No.6]

The problems with a space food program; it’s only good for one meal a day: launch.

At least it comes vacuum-packed!

Thanks, try the veal substitute, I’ll be here all week.

[ClearCase_guy]

I wish we had a space program. Unfortunately, only the developed countries have stuff like that.

[Dagnabitt]

Zero-G will not improve lutefisk.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The Trondheim research unit has been trying to grow plants in space since 2006."

Why? It doesn't sound very cost-effective. Plants grow pretty well here on earth.

"Sir, would you like to buy some of our space-grown tomatoes?"

"Yeah, how much are they?"

"$3,000 each, two for $5,000."

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

But if all the supplies of this ‘beloved’ food (?!?!) and all the recipes are sent to space, things could improve on Earth!

[Ellendra]

Air potatoes: source of carbs and minerals. Provides an ongoing supply. Choose the variety carefully, some need the spuds protected from light more than others do.

Tomatoes: vitamins and flavor, less gravity-dependent than some plants.

Zuchetta Rampicante squash: multi-purpose. If you know how to prepare them at the different stages of maturity, you can essentially get 4 different types of squash off the same plant (youngest tastes best raw, middle-young tastes best cooked, baseball-bat sized tasted great dehydrated, fully mature makes a great winter squash.) Some signs of lessened geotropic response, could be bred to emphasize this. (That last part in layman’s terms: it sometimes tries to grow upside down.)

Peppers: accounts from many astronauts indicate that space causes tastebuds to lose sentitivity, and creates a craving for spices or strong flavors. As a nightshade it should be less gravity-dependent than some plants.

Peas: essential nutrients and protein, keeps producing as long as it’s picked. I haven’t tested this one for geotropic ssensitivity yet.

Avoid: corn (too gravity-dependent), single-crop plants (waste of space because they need replanted after each harvest), and anything that requires more than 2 steps of processing or creates chaff (WHY does NASA keep growing wheat in space when they aren’t allowed to have bread for safety reasons?)

That’s a quick liast of what I remember from when I was designing space colonies.

(Any typos are the result of typing in the dark while half askeep.)

[Ellendra]

Oh, also avoid anything that’s difficult to pollinate!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I thought they lived on lutefisk!

[GeronL]

spacefisk

[BenLurkin]

Very cool — Thanks!

[Kenny Bunk]

Space is the right place to prepare lutefisk. In fact, if I were suddenly to be named King'o'Morway, I would make it the onlyplace to prepare lutefisk.

Say, I wonder if all those new Muslim Norwegians have developed a taste for it?

[spokeshave]

Maybe its because of this:

Norway’s wheat production impacted by Climate Change Guest Blogger / October 5, 2013

Guest essay by David Archibald

A correspondent in Oslo writes:

“The official view in Norway is in contrast to what the people experience because of cooling weather: Late spring gives flooding and avalanches when late snow-melting in the mountains. Water pipes freeze because of early and deep frost in the winter. Insect populations down 40% in 5 years because of cool and wet summers. This of cause is bad for pollination of fruit and berries. The grain harvest in Norway this summer is down 18% from average the last 5 years, despite increase in area and better seeds. But officially it is getting warmer.”

Some of those observations are anecdotal but some facts can be checked – Norwegian wheat production for example. The following figure shows Norwegian wheat production from 1960. Wheat production is off 48% from its peak:

Just a few years ago, Norwegian wheat comprised up to about 75% of Norwegian bread, seemingly hitting a blend wall. Now it is down to 10% due to climate change. The Norwegian Government used to have a policy of storing two years’ worth of grain consumption. This was a lesson from WW2. It took two generations to forget that lesson and the policy was abandoned in the 1990s.

more at

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/05/norways-wheat-production-impacted-by-climate-change/

[WKUHilltopper]

LOL!

[WKUHilltopper]

Just order a delivery pizza—from Russia.

[Textide]

With this goal in mind, the Norwegian researchers' work is a critical part of giving space explorers the means to survive and eat in a self-sustaining fashion, many thousands of miles away from Earth.

It's nice to see some parts of Western Civilization still have the exploration bug. This is a 40 year project being undertaken on the idea that humans will eventually venture forth into space on a more permanent basis.

I'll be in my 70's when they have it perfected and will volunteer to be a space farmer.