ASTROBOTANY: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SPACE EXPLORATION AND ECO FRIENDLY LIVING

No matter if you are into Aquaponics, Farming, Gardening or anything else Green,  believe me there is a connection to space exploration, and not just one, but several. This is gonna be just a short overview, or otherwise this article would just be too long. okay, lets get started.

If we going to do long term Space Travel and colonization, we have to feed the crew. Period. That simple. As you can imagine, endless supply lines with cargo ships isn't gonna do the trick. Just not practical. We need something on site, just like here on earth, something recyclable and something that doesn't need a whole lot of resupplying. That's where aquaculture, more specific aquaponics comes into play.  A closed circuit Aquaponics system can produce needed vegetables and a variety of seafood, it doesn't need a lot of "topping off", and powered with solar panels, its gonna be almost self sustaining. As i said before, we will get into details with other articles along the way.

Now, lets look at Farming and Gardening in space. Aquaponics is fine, but we also need some sustainable food production at the site of any colony. Of course, at the beginning it will probably be more on a gardening scale, rather than a large farming operation. There is of course the question of soil availability and quality. However, with new technology and some twisting of the available soil, its not gonna be too difficult to produce healthy sturdy growing beds. A few flowers, to lighten up the decoration would be nice too. NASA, several universities, as well as private space companies have already started to run experiments along those lines.

Last, but not least, the energy problem. Its clear and simple, that we need a steady renewable energy supply to make all those things happen. Solar panels are a given, but lets not forget that we can also use wind energy on other planets. Since there are storms on mars, some type of wind turbines are definitely a possibility. There are also a lot of other ways to create energy, but as said before, we will get into details later.

So, every time from now on, when you attend to your garden or farm, or you check on your aquaponics system, think about the possibilities to have all this working on other planets or moons. Who knows, one of you might just come up with a breakthrough.


Okay, so this is it for the overview. I hope you enjoyed the article, and come back for more. Maybe you can just sign up to stay updated.