The
introduction of a CELSS seeks to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and
food for astronauts with the help of plants and algae, instead of relying on
stocks of such basics deposited on board at the outset of the mission. Chinese
astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in
extraterrestrial bases in the future, an official said after a just-concluded
lab experiment in Beijing.
Deng
Yibing, deputy director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and
Training Center, said that the experiment focused on a dynamic balanced
mechanism of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water between people and plants in a
closed system. According to Deng, a cabin of 300 cubic meters was established to
provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for two participants during
the experiment.
Four
kinds of vegetables were grown, taking in carbon dioxide and providing oxygen
for the two people living in the cabin. They could also harvest fresh vegetables
for meals, Deng said. The experiment, the first of its kind in China, is
extremely important for the long-term development of China's manned space
program, Deng added.
The
cabin, a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) built in 2011, is a
model of China's third generation of astronauts' life support systems, which is
expected to be used in extraterrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars. The
introduction of a CELSS seeks to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and
food for astronauts with the help of plants and algae, instead of relying on
stocks of such basics deposited on board at the outset of the mission.
Advance
forms of CELSS also involve the breeding of animals for meat and using microbes
to recycle wastes. Scientists from Germany also participated in the
experiments.
For further information
visit: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Chinese_astronauts_may_grow_veg_on_Moon_999.html
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