(Image: David Hecker/Getty Images)
WOULD-BE Mars colonist and space-flight entrepreneur Elon Musk often jokes that he wants 鈥渢o die on Mars, but not on impact鈥�.
He probably doesn鈥檛 mean starve to death, though. He鈥檒l have to hope some horticultural research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bremen pays off, in which case he and other off-planet pioneers will at least have plenty of salad to munch on.
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Pictured here under the warm red glow of a water-cooled, LED-based lighting system, 鈥�space lettuce鈥� is growing in an aeroponic greenhouse module designed for use on the moon or Mars. The plants are suspended from soil-free trays and their dangling roots sprayed with nutrients for 20 seconds every 2 minutes.
LEDs are needed because the sunlight on Mars is too weak to fuel photosynthesis. 鈥淥n the moon we would most likely use artificial light too,鈥� says DLR engineer Daniel Schubert. 鈥淚t makes more sense that way because the lunar night is about 14 Earth days long.鈥�
The plant鈥檚 healthy root system is visible both in Schubert鈥檚 hand and, below, in normal light.
For colonists, growing plants will be a key home comfort, but it鈥檚 a two-way deal: astronauts will have to nourish their salad crops with their own waste fluids. Each greenhouse module will scavenge chemicals from astronaut urine to produce fertiliser. The system will be tested in the hostile wastes of Antarctica in 2016.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪pace salad鈥�
