The human beings now want to go ‘the moon’ & to ‘the mars’ and want to live there for a long period of time which arises an important question & that is: “From where to get the supply of the oxygen, water, food during this long stay?”
‘The Discovery’ Space shuttle just returned from the space after meeting the ‘International Space Station’ (ISS) roaming 400 km. above the surface of earth. It has spent 215 days in space, during which it had performed five different mission. The main among all of them was to connect the Russian supply shuttle named ‘Progress’ to space station. After finishing this mission successfully on
This so called ‘Tiffin service’ is going on since a long period of time with the help of Russian ‘Progress’ shuttle & American shuttle, and it will go on even in the future but not for a very long time.
‘International space station’ is under construction, for which the necessary material is being supplied by rocket from the earth; along with it the stock of food & water is also being sent.
But such space-trip would not be necessary once the space-station gets ready and that will be around the end of this decade.
On the other hand, the scientists are going to stay long on the space station for scientific research. Here also the problem of food & water supply for them is going to arrive, and that is why the Space Kitchen in the space station has to be established.
NASA claimed that by the year 2035, the same problem would obstruct to the team going on ‘The Mars’. The duration of the journey from Earth to Mars is of three long years, without any stop. 12,150 Kg of food and around thousand liters of water would be needed for the seven Astronauts who are going to go in this journey.
Such a stock can not be sent together as it cost corers of dollars to sent 1 ton stock on the Mars. NASA’s appropriate budget for the mission to Mars is 80 million dollars. If they establish a cold storage in the space shuttle, it would increase the overall weight of the space shuttle which would be resulted as the increment in the budget. It is not good for the physical & mental health of the Astronauts, if they spend thousand days on the
‘Tin-food’.
The mission to mars would happen far of in the future but before that another important task is:-To built a colony for the Researchers on the moon.
It seems that the Moon is not an appropriate place to built a colony as there is neither the air nor any kind of atmosphere. But it is very useful in other ways as the Gravitation on the Moon is 1/6 of the gravitation on earth and that is the reason why it is advisable to built a ‘Launching Pad’ there.
It is also very useful as the raw materials are found here in a very large quantity. In each 10, 00,000 ton raw materials there is 56,000 ton Al, 1,39,000 ton cast iron , 44,000 ton Mg , 1,94,000 ton Si, 56,000 ton Ti and 1,39,000 ton O2.
For this mission it is necessary to be self dependent regarding food. Means it is better if the scientist arrange their food & water themselves rather then be dependent on the “Tiffin Service” from the earth.
Since 1981, American experts of NASA have been experimenting on
“Hydroponics crop” At ‘Utah university’ , they spend yearly 1.5-2 lakh dollars for the research on ‘Space forming’ and it is now that they are getting admirable result of this research. They have successfully grown the fruits, vegetables & grain through ‘Hydroponics system’.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT HYDROPONICS?
Hydroponics is the growing of plants in nutrient solutions. This type of growing does not require soil. The nutrients solution is water with dissolved nutrients. The word ‘Hydroponics’ derived from the Greek language, where “Hydro” means water and “ponos” means labor. Thus, hydroponics basically means working water. Although we are used to seeing plants grown in soil, they do not actually need soil to grow. They need only the nutrients and support which are usually provided through the soil. These elements are provided through the nutrient solution and growth chamber of a hydroponics system.
There are many benefits to hydroponics farming. The difference between growing plants in soil and growing them in water is that the water allows the absorption of nutrients at a much faster rate. The growth rate on a hydroponics plant is 30-50 percent faster than in a soil plant grown under the same conditions.
IMAGE: - FUTURE SPACE HYDROPONICS FOOD
Hydroponics systems pump the necessary nutrients right to the plant. Thus, roots do not spread as much as they do in soil.
Scientists believe that the growth rate of hydroponically grown plants is greater because the plants do not have to search in the soil for the nutrients it requires. Very little energy goes into the plants finding and breaking down food. The plants use this saved energy to grow faster and produce more fruit.
Another benefit of hydroponics growing systems is that the need for weed, disease, and insect control is greatly reduced or eliminated. This is due to the absence of soil.
Image above: astronauts exploring Mars will build hydroponics growth labs where vegetables can be grown. These crops will provide the crew with added nutrition and variety.
There is still one important research which has to be done. And that is: “How to grow plants in the absence of the gravitation?” On the earth we have gravitation which makes them to grow in the right direction but how to prevent them from being directionless in the space?
The scientist suggest one solution for this problem and that is: A drum on which the hydroponics vessels are set, that drum should be set on the axle of a wheel and should be kept on moving around. And due to constant rotation of the drum, it creates centrifugal force which results into artificial gravitation, this helps the plant to grow.
But it is not only the question of fulfilling the necessity of food. The sufficient stock of water & oxygen should also be available here. In addition to grain & vegetables, they should also get milk, butter and cheese. That is why the scientists are trying to make a food chain through different biological system, where in all the systems would be depending on each other.
The important parts of the food chain create for the mission to Mars is as shown in chart:
CHART: - INTERDEPENDENT FOOD CHAIN FOR SPACE
- The biological waste of the Astronauts and cattle.
- This waste is decomposed by the bacteria, so only dirty water remains.
- This remaining water goes to the tank which contains moss for purification. The moss grows by absorbing CO2 & N2. Thus, moss performs multiple tasks-it purifies the water, absorbs CO2 provides O2 and that is why each person would get 1.6 Kg O2.
- But still some nutritive remains in the purified water so this water would be used in the farming. This Hydroponics crop fulfills the need of food for both the Astronauts as well as the cattle.
- The cattle would provide milk for the Astronauts.
- After the plant absorbs all the nutritive, the waste water would be boiled in a special unit at 3750C under 1300 Kg pressure. And this would make drinking water ready for the Astronauts and cattle.
This is the complete independent Food-Chain.
Astronaut ‘George Gamove’ has different opinion. He considers ‘Space Farming’ is not necessary and gives another solution.
According to him, ‘If the speed of the space shuttle increases excessively then there is no need of Space-Farming.’
The speed of the light is 2, 99,792 Km/sec. Subtract 1/10, 00,000 portion of the 1% of this speed and the answer that we get should be the speed of the space shuttle.
But this super fast journey is not possible at least for sometime. If the space shuttle goes at this speed, it will reduce the speed of time. The space shuttle clock would run slow so as the physical and mental activities of the Astronauts in it.
Comparing it with the time runs on the Earth, the time would run so slow that after people on the Earth eats for 6,570 times, the Astronauts in the space would eat one time!!! In other words, the time duration of 9 years on earth is equal to just half day in the space!!!
George Gamove’s solution for this problem is really great. But it would take a lot of time till it becomes possible, till then the interdependent food chain is the suitable solution.
REFERENCE LINK:-
Prepared by:- Samir Mehta & Mansi Pathak
U.V.Patel College Of Engineering, Gujarat.
3 comments:
This technique is shown in movie called Sunshine where a team goes into space to ignite nuclear reaction in Sun (which dying as all of its energy has been used) and foster its Nuclear fusion process. Nice work...
Kushal
LD College of Engineering.
A guide to farming of different variety , aquaponics ,hydroponics ,kitchen farming , quail farming , floriculture ,agropro and many more.
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