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Plant productivity in controlled environmentsTo assess the cost and area/volume requirements of a farm in a space station or Lunar or Martian base, a few laboratories in the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Japan are studying optimum controlled environments for the production of selected crops. Temperature, light, photoperiod, CO2, humidity, the root-zone environment, and cultivars are the primary factors being manipulated to increase yields and harvest index. Our best wheat yields on a time basis (24 g m-2 day-1 of edible biomass) are five times good field yields and twice the world record. Similar yields have been obtained in other laboratories with potatoes and lettuce; soybeans are also promising. These figures suggest that approximately 30 m2 under continuous production could support an astronaut with sufficient protein and about 2800 kcal day-1. Scientists under Iosif Gitelzon in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, have lived in a closed system for up to 5 months, producing 80% of their own food. Thirty square meters for crops were allotted to each of the two men taking part in the experiment. A functional controlled-environment life-support system (CELSS) will require the refined application of several disciplines: controlled-environment agriculture, food preparation, waste disposal, and control-systems technology, to list only the broadest categories. It has seemed intuitively evident that ways could be found to prepare food, regenerate plant nutrients from wastes, and even control and integrate several subsystems of a CELSS. But could sufficient food be produced in the limited areas and with the limited energy that might be available? Clearly, detailed studies of food production were necessary.
Document ID
20040090305
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Salisbury, F. B.
(Utah State University Logan 84322-4820, United States)
Bugbee, B.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1988
Publication Information
Publication: HortScience : a publication of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Volume: 23
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0018-5345
Subject Category
Man/System Technology And Life Support
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC2-139
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
NASA Discipline Life Support Systems
NASA Program CELSS
NASA Discipline Number 61-10
Non-NASA Center
Review
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