Posted on 09/24/2018 7:13:36 AM PDT by BenLurkin
An Antarctic greenhouse known as EDEN ISS not only survived the polar night but emerged from it with a harvest for local researchers, thus providing hope that future Mars colonists could also enjoy fresh food during their time on the Red Planet, German Aerospace Center (DLR) officials said in a statement.
Regularly withstanding temperatures below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius), the greenhouse provided herbs, lettuce and other vegetables to 10 people who were riding out the winter in the remote station, called the Alfred Wegener Institute's Neumayer Station III. It's the first time the greenhouse operated through the winter.
The haul included 170 lbs. (77 kilograms) of lettuce, 112 lbs. (51 kg) of cucumbers, 64 lbs. (29 kg) of tomatoes, 26 lbs. (12 kg) of kohlrabi, 20 lbs. (9 kg) of herbs and 11 lbs. (5 kg) of radishes.
All of the crops were produced in a cultivated area measuring just 140 square feet (13 square meters). However, the peppers and strawberries failed to produce a harvest, likely due to pollination issues, according to the statement.
While Zabel tended to the planets when possible, stormy conditions in Antarctica often prevented him from walking the quarter mile or so (about 400 m) outdoors to the greenhouse. In those cases, a control center in Bremen, Germany, took over for as long as three consecutive days.
When conditions allowed, Zabel could perform urgent repairs, such as fixing a screw that came loose in the thermal system.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
I worked with the woman that grew the first tomatoes at the Pole. That was over 30 years ago.
[Regularly withstanding temperatures below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit]
Crappy weather, but colonists would enjoy fresh vegetables.
Did they filter the sun to account for the decreased intensity on Mars?
Seems to be a spell checker issue...
They need to do what Columbus did when he came to New World, when he brought pigs with him. They multiply fast, eat garbage.
Sounds to me like they would have used up so much energy to grow these plats that it wouldn’t be viable for Mars. Lots of diesel or gasoline to run generators for light, heat, to melt snow and ice (?) to water them etc. For Mars would be easier to just take Vitamin C pills.
Angers me no end when you frequently post good stuff and you get off topic silly contributions like this which detracts from the subject and make FR’s look like a bunch of jerks . What about a pic of the greenhouse mentioned
I don’t mind the joking and ribaldry, at all. It me helps me decompress from the daily barrage of bad news for America.
Just don't mention...the "U" planet....
It’s wintertime there, so these are the most expensive veggies possible. Not much light ( some 60 days w/no sunrise) most of the time.
Veggies don’t grow unless there is enough light and the temps are around 70-85F, so the energy/fuel costs to generate such condition were enormous.
The infrastructure alone probably weighed in at 20+ tons- so not likely feasible to launch to anywhere.
Oh, yeah I forgot, microwaves in a open ended tank or solar sails or diLithium crystals are just on the horizon!
Hmmm, not one word how it keeps up to temperature at your link or at the project’s site http://eden-iss.net/
I guess a greenhouse that close to the pole doesn’t need windows to let the sun in like a traditional one...:^)
Energy balance numbers would be very interesting. How many gallons of fossil fuel did it take per pound of veggies grown?
The Mars mission will need nuclear power to run the base anyways, so this is a good fit.
The surface of Mars receives about 2.5 times the radiation received on the International Space Station.
Pizarro brought hundreds of diseased pigs and hundreds of diseased soldiers to Florida and took off inland spreading the plague which many have killed off 2 million Native Americans.
Was it Pizarro?
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