Hamre 1

Ridge Hamre
UWRT 1102
Ms. Otis
10/24/14
Source Response #3
Food has issues on Earth such as availability and pollution, but in order to go to space,
food has a stricter set of guidelines that it must pass and many foods are ruled out altogether. The
foods eaten must first and foremost give the eater the nutrient rich and diverse diet needed to
continue living. Storage space is considered for food as well. If plants are going to be grown for
food how much room needs to be set aside for the technology needed to grow healthy plant life.
Food plays a psychological role as well. It can represent home and keep astronauts sane.
Recycling is a complex issue that must also be dealt with as a result of the space farming. Im
interested in the technologies we have and those we need to improve so that sustainable food
outside of Earth can be achieved.
The International Space Station (I.S.S.) has a crew aboard for months at a time. Feeding
them is not a problem. They receive their food from supply ships and store it on board for
extended periods of time. The crew is fed three meals and two snacks daily. They also take
subsidy pills for lack of vitamin D from sunlight exposure. While they have grown plants on the
station before it was for experiment purposes and not for survival.
Growing plants in an zero gravity orbiting home can have mental health benefits also, as
stated in an article from Modern Farmer, they act as a form of emotional sustenance called
horticultural therapy(Allen). This type of therapy can reduce stress, improve moods, and help
with depression which someone might feel when confined inside for long periods of time. One

Hamre 2
astronaut named Don Pettit talks about his experience growing zucchini, broccoli, and sunflower
plants, It was delightful to have those plants around, to feel the little hairs on a leaf tickle your
nose, to see that sunflower in full bloom. It changed our whole experience.
Colonizing the Moon or Mars will require sustainable plants but a permanent residence
relies heavily on the advances we can make here on Earth. The technologies needed for living
beyond our home will undoubtable contribute to major advances for living on Earth. For
example, our growing of staple crops in a nutrient and space efficient way is important for
interplanetary colonists with little space available but also to feed a growing population on Earth.
The use of LEDs to simulate sunlight so that plants may grow where the sun does not shine is a
technology absolutely required for food sustainability in space that we can use here on Earth
even though we get sunlight so that we may grow vertical farms and farms that operate all day
long.
In an article written for Popular Science Magazine, Sarah Fecht discusses a study in
which plants were grown in Martian and lunar soil simulant. Fecht quotes the Netherlands
scientists in charge of the study on their results saying Our results show that in principle it is
possible to grow crops and other plant species in Martian and Lunar soil simulants. Of course
the soil simulants were not perfect replications and other factors such as gravity, radiation, and
light intensity of other worlds were not the focus of the study.
In another Popular Science Magazine article about astronauts starving on the Mars One
mission led me to a study published by PhD students at MIT. The study discusses our current
TRL or technology readiness level and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). In the study the
authors state that If crops are used as the sole food source, they will produce unsafe

Hamre 3
oxygen levels in the habitat, and that the ISRU technology required to produce nitrogen,
oxygen, and water on the surface of Mars is at a relatively low Technology Readiness Level
(Do, 1). This means that being able to recycle and control resources is a vital part of
sustainability and the optimal TRL has not been reached yet. Being able to provide the resources
plants need to grow as well as control the levels of oxygen given off by plants is necessary for a
sustainable indoor space farm.

Hamre 4
Works cited

Do, Sydney, Koki Ho, Samuel Schreiner, Andrew Owens, and Olivier De Weck. AN
INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF THE MARS ONE
MISSION PLAN (2014): 1-35. Web.mit.edu. Web.
Fecht, Sarah. "Crops Grow On Fake Moon And Mars Soil." Popular Science. 09 Sept. 2014.
Web. 24 Oct. 2014.
Hirsch, Jesse. "Space Farming: The Final Frontier - Modern Farmer." Modern Farmer. 10 Sept.
2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.