Using 98% less water than traditional agriculture, Garden Pool's closed-loop systems are a breakthrough for farming in space.
Using local materials, Garden Pool creates systems that are replicable and scalable. Whether it's indoors, outdoors, on the moon or vertically, the Garden Pool system is effective across a multitude of environments and scales
Garden Pool is passionate about transcending futurism, instead building a tangible reality. This is the most significant biomet research that has been done in the last 10 years!
As of 2017, the world population is estimated to be at around 7.2 billion. By 2050, that number is expected to reach 9.6 billion. In the next 30 years, farmers will need to produce more food on land that might not even be available anymore. Space farming is becoming more of a necessity than a novelty as the years go by. Mars is the next logical step. Creating and sustaining life on Mars would be the pinnacle of mankind achievement. Venturing into space and colonizing other planets and celestial objects can help provide additional land for agriculture to ensure the survival of our species.
As Elon Musk said, “humans need to be a multi-planet species”. There are many reasons why Mars is the right choice for colonization. The most obvious being that Mars is a planet that is most similar to our own. There is also evidence that Mars could support life, including evidence of water, atmosphere, and other natural resources that could allow life to live. In addition, colonizing on Mars has the potential to improve the quality of life here on Earth. The technology used to develop Mars missions and habitats have the potential to benefit other fields, such as medicine or agriculture. Anything we discover on Mars, we can take back and apply to current research on Earth. Together, we have the ability to advance the art and technology of one of man’s oldest endeavors. “If the human race is to continue for another million years, we will have to boldly go where no one has gone before.” -Stephen Hawking, 2008
No significant biome research has been done in the last 10 years to simulate plant growth on Mars
The time is now! Technology is constantly improving and is more advanced than people think. Most of our agricultural design uses existing technology, so most of the hefty research has already been done. We will combine space technology with Garden Pool technology to create a sustaining farm in space.
Some examples of current technology being used includes:
-Space habitat structure (NASA Habitat Demonstration Unit)
-Attachable inflatable habitation
-LED Lights that can produce specific wavelengths of light to simulate the sun.
-Air Scrubbers to clean air and prevent spread of airborne bacteria, mold, gas, odors, etc. if needed
By now, most people have seen the Martian movie starring Matt Damon, where his character is stranded on Mars and is forced to grow his own food. He succeeds at growing potatoes in the Martian soil, fertilized by waste. According to scientists, real Martian regolith does have the nutrients plants would need to survive. There might not be the right amounts, depending on where on Mars you are, but a simple solution is just to fertilize. Currently, there exists a Martian soil simulant, developed by NASA and JPL scientists, that has been used to grow food. We can also use this soil to help with our testing.
With land acquired from the Mohave, we want to build a farm that can grow real food on a larger scale that can sustain a colony. Space habitat structures can be connected to one another and act as living quarters, work spaces, research areas, and storage. Inflatable habitats will also be attached to the structures and this is where the actual agriculture will take place. Here, we can plant foods within a controlled system so they can be monitored and conditions can be adjusted.
With our project, any aerospace agency can join and perform their own projects or research. People have the option to compare experiments, apples to apples, and collaborate. It would be a collaborative space for innovation and growth.
Growing is also very easy! There should be no pathogens or common greenhouse pests since it is a closed, controlled environment. Garden Pool system makes growing easy and sustainable, so you can basically grow anything!