Life in space isn¡¯t for everyone. From surviving in zero gravity to barely getting a stable place to sleep at night, it just shows what humans are truly capable of. And amidst all this, the biggest challenge is with the food they eat.?
Usually, food on the International Space Station is sent in bulk rations which are vacuum sealed to make them last long. And while they might have a variety of food items like turkey, shrimp cocktail and even ice cream, it tastes nowhere close to freshly cooked food. However, while cooking fresh food might not be impossible aboard the ISS, they¡¯ve surely managed to grow fresh food on it.
As a part of an experiment that lasted from 2014 to 2016, astronauts aboard the ISS grew lettuce (Red romaine lettuce to be specific) in a special containment box dubbed ¡®Veggie¡¯ -- Vegetable Production Systems that helped the leaves grow with LED lighting and a watering system.
The crops managed to grow with ease inside these units for 33 to 56 days, until the crew members ate the leaves after maturing, without facing any side effects. This is a marvellous feat, considering the plants have managed to grow in zero gravity, with radiation levels much higher than planet Earth in a spacecraft that is travelling at the speed of 20,000 miles per hour.?
Out of what was grown, some were deep-frozen and sent back to Earth, where scientists analysed the quality of growth and abnormalities if any. Researchers were able to find that space-grown lettuce was identical in composition to the Earth-grown lettuce, except that in some trials, space-grown plant tissue tended to be richer in elements such as potassium, sodium, phosphorus, sulphur, and zinc, as well as in phenolics, molecules with proven antiviral, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activity.
Longer duration tests recently revealed that the leaves were away from carrying dangerous bacterias like E.coli, salmonella and S.aureus. Moreover, the amount of fungal and mould spores on them was well within the normal range for a production to be deemed fit for human consumption.
Dr Gioia Massa, project scientist at Kennedy Space Center said in a statement, "The International Space Station is serving as a testbed for future long-duration missions, and these types of crop growth tests are helping to expand the suite of candidates that can be effectively grown in microgravity."
She further stated that such experiments will make long-duration space missions like Artemis III or human space flight on Mars.