Conversations That Matter | Space – The Final Food Frontier (w/ Dr. Michael Dixon, University of Guelph) @ConversationsThatMatter | Uploaded April 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
@CaptainJamesTKirk007 James T. Kirk starts “Star Trek” by saying, “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore new worlds; to seek out new life and civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!” Five years is a long time and packing five years of food would be impossible.
While the writers of the series dealt with the production of food in a variety of ways – everything from coloured cubes to a protein resequencer that could replicate certain foods and an onboard hydroponic greenhouse to grow fruits and vegetables. The reality of producing food in space is extremely complex. And if we are planning three and more years in space missions, we need to learn how to grow it on the way and on whichever plant we land.
At the @UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre University of Guelph, Professor Dixon and a team of researchers have been tackling this challenge for 20 plus years, and Dixon says, “We can grow food – not all of the food we grow here on earth, but we can grow food.” That, he points out, is just the beginning. “Being in space means you have no choice. You have to have a zero environmental footprint – that means zero waste. The waste you produce has to be recycled and put back to work immediately. We can’t wait for nature because nature isn’t fast enough.”
We invited Professor Michael Dixon to join us for a @ConversationsThatMatters about growing food in space and what lessons we can apply to growing climate-smart food here.
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Please become a Patreon subscriber and support the production of this program, with a $1 pledge goo.gl/ypXyDs
ctm448 #food #outerspace #spaceexploration @NASA @Patreon
@CaptainJamesTKirk007 James T. Kirk starts “Star Trek” by saying, “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore new worlds; to seek out new life and civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!” Five years is a long time and packing five years of food would be impossible.
While the writers of the series dealt with the production of food in a variety of ways – everything from coloured cubes to a protein resequencer that could replicate certain foods and an onboard hydroponic greenhouse to grow fruits and vegetables. The reality of producing food in space is extremely complex. And if we are planning three and more years in space missions, we need to learn how to grow it on the way and on whichever plant we land.
At the @UoGHoneyBeeResearchCentre University of Guelph, Professor Dixon and a team of researchers have been tackling this challenge for 20 plus years, and Dixon says, “We can grow food – not all of the food we grow here on earth, but we can grow food.” That, he points out, is just the beginning. “Being in space means you have no choice. You have to have a zero environmental footprint – that means zero waste. The waste you produce has to be recycled and put back to work immediately. We can’t wait for nature because nature isn’t fast enough.”
We invited Professor Michael Dixon to join us for a @ConversationsThatMatters about growing food in space and what lessons we can apply to growing climate-smart food here.
---
Please become a Patreon subscriber and support the production of this program, with a $1 pledge goo.gl/ypXyDs
ctm448 #food #outerspace #spaceexploration @NASA @Patreon
