19 August 2003 13:14
Greenhouse for space flights designed in Russia
The Russian Institute for Medical and Biological Problems has developed a ground version of an improved space greenhouse.
"Some 100 grams of edible biological substances can be grown in the greenhouse every five days with little energy consumption," a senior researcher from the institute, Yuli Berkovich, has said. "Wintere have developed a methodology of evaluating the plant's quality that will be useful to the cosmonauts during long missions on the International Space Station (ISS) as well as on long interplanetary missions in the future," he said.
The greatest yields can be grown if seeds are planted on a cylindrical surface consisting of 6-10 planting segments. "We suggest using a new modification of synthetic fiber soil replacement," Berkovich said.
He said that the new greenhouse will fundamentally differ from all existing ones. "All existing space greenhouses are built on the same principle as the ones on earth with plants growing in one direction toward a source of light. In this greenhouse, they will grow in different directions thanks to a cylindrical lamp that will illuminate the plants from different sides thus increasing productivity," he said.
Berkovich said that the test model of the greenhouse for the life- support system in the Russian segment of the ISS should be built by the middle of 2004. ISS expedition crews have already staged a successful biological experiment in the Lada mini-greenhouse. Commander of Expedition Six, Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin, succeeded in collecting the first space harvest of space-grown peas, while an earlier attempt to grow tomatoes failed. Specialists believe the studies will help resolve questions of fundamental biology, in addition to other practical matters crucial for future long interplanetary missions.
"It was [Russian scientist Konstantin] Tsiolkovsky who suggested growing plants in space so that cosmonauts would be able to diversify their diet and in the future fully switch to plants grown in space thus becoming self-sufficient. This is a key problem of populating space," Lyndin said.
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