We can imagine the face you have put on when you have read the title of this article. Surely you have thought: «these have definitely lost their minds «, however it is a real project that is being studied in the United States. Of course, it is NASA that is carrying it out. We will explain in detail this project known as L unar Plant Growth Habitat (LPX)
L UNAR PLANT GROWTH HABITAT (LPX)
A little related to the influence of the Moon on plants , as we saw in a previous article, we wanted to investigate a little more about current projects in relation to the cultivation of plants in other spaces that are not found on our planet.
Man has always dreamed of colonizing other planets or satellites, and for many years we have seen fanciful images of modules in which there were small greenhouses. Something like this is what they are planning to do on Mars with the Mars One project , for very little (from 2015). Although the matter has many waters and we doubt its realization, we are going to comment on what experiments are currently related to the cultivation of plants in modified atmospheres.
THE L UNAR PLANT GROWTH HABITAT (LPX) PROJECT
No, it really is nothing like the photo above, since it would be impossible for a plant to photosynthesize without oxygen. The project consists of studying the viability of seed germination and the response of plants to conditions of less gravity and greater radiation.
In man and some animals, studies have already been carried out in relation to the response to certain exposures (radiation, difference in gravity, etc.), but not with plants. The first step for future colonization (if there is one) is to see if the plant cannot germinate when conditions are not those of our planet or the opposite happens, its growth is stimulated.
THE LUNAR ORCHARDS MODULE
The idea is to deposit on the Moon at the latest before 2015 (there is little left …) a module that contains all the necessary elements to allow the germination of plants. Light, water, a good temperature and a breeding ground (a substrate, for example). It will have a sufficient oxygen capacity to allow its germination and the percentage of growth of the plants and their evolution will be evaluated in comparison with the same experiment carried out on earth. This will check if the result is the same as it would be here, if it is worse, or if low gravity is good for the plants. Who knows, it may be the first step to lunar orchards.
In this way, it will allow future studies to be carried out to evaluate the viability of colonizing future satellites or planets (such as the Mars One that we have discussed before), in which there must be greenhouse modules to allow plants to grow that generate fresh fruits, vegetables and vegetables and guarantee the survival of space explorers.
THE VEGGIE SYSTEM OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Currently, some systems are already being used to keep astronauts fed, such as VEGGIE , a Plant Production System patented by NASA that will be launched aboard the Dragon SpaceX capsule with a well-studied plant nutrition system that will speed up the process. harvest of plants. It consists of a kind of microwave weighing 15 kg that will allow to grow simple species such as radishes, cabbage, lettuce, etc. It is being investigated with taller plants, such as tomatoes or beans, although they have space problems.