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Humans will colonize Mars and the Moon, that is clear, according to Wamelink. And then of course you also have to eat tasty and healthy food. “Our goal is to grow vegetables on the moon in a few years and on Mars within ten years.”
Astronauts occasionally receive fresh food sent by rockets. Wamelink: “It costs a lot of money and is also very harmful to the environment and the products only have a limited shelf life.” He knows that it’s a party every time fresh food arrives. That’s why scientists have launched all sorts of initiatives to grow plants on Earth that can thrive on other planets. Also for permanent residents of the Moon and Mars.
Crop cultivation is already taking place on a small scale on the ISS space station. You use gel instead of soil for this because water floats away. And this gel contains all the nutrients. But the danger is always that where people are, such as in the ISS, bacteria will attack the crops so that they can no longer be eaten.
Fries
Wamelink started growing vegetables years ago at Wageningen University in conditions that would also be found on a planet like Mars. What excites him the most is the potato. “These are very important in a diet; we get a lot of energy from them. And just as important: they take up little space and grow quickly. Rye, for example, is also full of nutrients, takes up a lot of space and takes a long time to harvest.”
The ecologist is a big fan of earthy fries. But to fry it in homemade oil, you need to grow enough peanuts. “You need a lot of it. Peanuts are difficult to grow in spatial conditions. It is truly one of the most difficult things to grow because peanuts require high temperatures to germinate. They also grow slowly, which takes about three quarters of a year.” In his opinion, the accompanying plant-based mayonnaise is easier to prepare. Greasing the space potatoes is certainly something Wamelink is interested in, but it’s not currently a priority in science.
Three course menu
Wamelink and his colleagues were proud of the first potato harvest in space. These were served in the form of puree on a special evening for sponsors. They received a three-course meal using only ingredients from the space greenhouse. “A very tasty potato soup as a starter, with a kind of bruschetta that we made from rye. The main meal consisted of mashed potatoes with tomatoes, carrots, peas, beans (one of my favorites!), radishes and spinach. Peanuts were used for dessert.”
To live self-sufficiently on the Moon and Mars, you have to eat a vegetarian diet. Peanuts are therefore indispensable in the diet. They have also been researching mealworms in Wageningen for two years. These are useful in several ways.
© Wageningen University
Circular
“We want to build a system in space that is closed and circular. Everything must be returned to nature. If we want to compost leftover cauliflower or carrot leaves, we feed them to the worms. There is enough moisture there for them to survive. We eat these worms again. They contain all amino acids and have a high protein content of 20 percent, comparable to cow’s milk. The beetle eggs from which the mealworms hatch are of course easier to transport with the rocket than with a cow.” Our feces can then be used as fertilizer. Presenter and actor Tom Waes donated his feces as manure for Wamelink’s research. “So we grew ‘special’ watercress from Waes.”
How do almost foreign potatoes taste?
Wamelink finds the space potatoes “very tasty”. “Really almost comparable to potatoes from potting soil! We measured it and in terms of nutrients they are also comparable in terms of the amount of protein and starch.” But he particularly likes the Mars tomatoes. “They are much sweeter than the ones we normally eat on earth.” In his opinion, the radishes also differ little from the normal taste, although they are a little spicier. The space farmer has already grown about 25 different types of vegetables.
A vegetable garden is not allowed on Mars, but a vegetable dome is
Of course there is no Martian soil. And scientists don’t get soil from the moon. That’s why the university and other scientists use desert soils that have been cleaned so that they no longer contain life. They get that through NASA.
Growing food outside on Mars and the Moon is not possible because it is far too cold for that. Temperatures from -60°C to -100°C are common on Mars. And there is no air. Scientists can use ice and therefore water. But the ground is full of metals, says Wamelink. “There is no nitrogen and no bacteria there, nothing really lives there. The only thing we can do with this soil is make it contain some nutrients.”
Due to cold weather and other circumstances, cultivation must be done indoors under a dome. They are currently working on how to set this up in Wageningen. To this end, they work with NASA, ESA, the TU Delft Reactor Institute (RID) and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO).
Megabomas
It is not possible to grow 100% like on Earth, like on Mars. “We can’t simulate gravity. Plants grow on the ISS without gravity, but we are still studying the effects.”
Wamelink makes it clear that the conditions for trees on earth are completely different. “The largest trees have a maximum length of 120 meters. Due to gravity and the fact that water has to flow from bottom to top, the tree cannot grow higher. On the moon the gravity is 1/6 of that here. Trees there could grow up to around 500 meters high. But just build a 600 meter high dome on the cold moon,” he laughs.
Radioactive
There is a small nuclear reactor in Delft where cobalt is made radioactive, so Wamelink has gamma radiation similar to the radiation from Mars and the Moon. “No, the plants do not become radioactive,” he assures us. “They get black spots or brown spots on their leaves, curled leaves and dwarfism. That’s why a lot of research is still needed.”
NASA vegetable garden
NASA has a special vegetable production system called Veggie. This is a space garden created specifically for a space station. It’s the size of a carry-on suitcase and is used to study plant growth in weightlessness and, of course, to provide astronauts with fresh food.
Each plant grows in a “cushion” filled with a clay-based growing medium and fertilizer. The cushions are important for distributing water, nutrients and air in a healthy balance around the roots. Otherwise, the roots would drown in water or be swallowed by the air as liquids form bubbles in space. Without gravity, plants use other environmental factors such as light to control their growth.
For example, in such a box there are three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage and kale. One reason for concern is always the harmful microbes that could grow on the products. This is possible due to the presence of human bacteria.
First dome in the world
Wamelink’s potatoes are now in a cellar at Evoluon in Eindhoven. The ecologist is working with her business partner Lotte Bohlander on building a dome like it would be on the moon or Mars. Together they founded the company BASE to build the world’s first-ever simulation dome. If it works, they have a blueprint and it can also be built in space. A 3D printer capable of producing concrete will then be sent by rocket.
If this succeeds, more people, at least a few hundred scientists, could stay on the moon permanently, according to the researcher.
Billions for research
NASA and SpaceX invest billions of dollars in space exploration every year. There are major concerns that an outbreak of foodborne illness on board the ISS could jeopardize a mission. Leafy greens are much needed by many astronauts and are easy to grow indoors, such as in the ISS’s hydroponic environment. And of course, these missions cannot be interrupted by a food safety outbreak.
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