In addition to the inflatable and inflatable space capsule itself, the space farm experimental project contained in this inflatable and inflatable space capsule has attracted the most attention.
According to relevant plans, the inflatable inflatable space capsule was successfully sent to space and inflated, and the space farm project began immediately.
This time, more than 20 kinds of plant seeds accompanied the spacecraft to space. In addition to some vegetables, there were also some wheat, rice, and corn, as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes and other food crops.
In addition to plants, this time it also contains several types of protein-rich insects and some microorganisms to build a complete space ecosystem at once.
According to the plan, this inflatable and inflatable space capsule will fly autonomously in space for seven to eight months to verify the reliability of the inflatable and inflatable space capsule itself.
In addition, it is whether the experimental space farm and the constructed space ecosystem are feasible.
You know, the food problem has always been one of the most important problems that has troubled us humans in going into space. Currently, astronauts on all human spacecraft in space rely on supplies from the earth to survive.
Every period of time, a cargo spacecraft carrying this large amount of supplies will take off, dock with the space station, and deliver important supplies to the space station, such as water and food, which are most important to astronauts. This takes up almost half or even more of the entire cargo spacecraft’s capacity and space.
In the future, humans will land on other planets, such as the moon, Mars, and even distant planets like Enceladus.
It is unrealistic, unreliable, and costly to rely on supplies from the earth. Therefore, adapting measures to local conditions and becoming self-reliant are currently the key issues that scientists are studying.
For example, in the science fiction movie "The Martian", the male protagonist relied on growing potatoes on Mars and survived.
Currently, according to relevant detections, there will be water in the south pole part of the moon and in landmarks on Mars.
In the south pole of the moon, there are a large number of glaciers and frozen soil, which contain considerable reserves of water resources, enough for human use.
On the surface of Mars, according to NASA's latest detection and research results, there is liquid water on the surface of Mars that changes with the seasons.
And in the South Pole of Mars, there are also abundant glaciers and frozen soil, and the water resources are also very considerable.
With water resources, this lays the foundation for human survival. In addition to being used by astronauts, water resources can also be used as fuel.
The decomposed hydrogen can be used as rocket fuel, and the separated oxygen can not only satisfy human breathing, but also serve as a combustion accelerant.
Even hydrogen gas is combined with the carbon dioxide breathed by humans and the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere to generate another high-quality fuel, methane, which is also a very ideal spacecraft propulsion fuel.
With water and soil, can humans grow food and vegetables on these alien planets?
No, it's far from that simple.
Both the moon and Mars are very desolate. The soil has no nutrients. How can we grow plants?
So if you want to grow plants, you must improve the soil. But this cannot be accomplished in a short time, so scientists focus on soilless cultivation technology.
The so-called soilless cultivation simply means that soil is not used, but nutrient solution is used for water cultivation or air cultivation.
This soilless culture technology, especially the nutrient solution culture technology, is very simple and practical, and has already entered our dinner tables. At present, many vegetables in supermarkets basically come from suburban plant factories, using soilless cultivation technology and hydroponics.
This is why you can see that many fresh vegetables in supermarkets don’t even have a trace of dirt on them and are very clean.
And one of the biggest advantages of this kind of plant factory is that it can not be affected by the external climate, and the environment inside the factory can be adjusted at any time according to needs, including temperature, humidity, light, etc., and vegetables can be cultivated uninterruptedly without being affected by seasonal changes. .
Moreover, these plants can also absorb a large amount of carbon dioxide, release a large amount of oxygen, and can support human survival.
So now scientists hope to apply this technology to space and alien planet exploration to cultivate sufficient rations for astronauts so that they can solve the food problem on their own.
But in theory, this idea of this technology is completely feasible. However, in actual operation, many problems were encountered.
Scientists once simulated a closed environment in space on Earth, hoping to establish a simulated closed ecosystem that was isolated from the world and then let some volunteers live in it.
This experiment was originally planned to last for one year, but these people couldn't bear it in more than two hundred days. The reason is that there is a problem in the entire ecosystem, resulting in volunteers being unable to survive.
The space farm project tested by Wu Hao and others this time also wants to explore this field and pursue the ambitious goal of long-term human survival in space and on alien planets.
For Wu Hao and others, it is not easy to grow vegetables in space. It is not as simple as some space experiments, where a few seeds are directly cultivated to germinate.
First of all, although this inflatable and inflatable space capsule was originally designed for people to enter and even live. But this is the first testing phase, and for safety reasons, naturally no one is allowed.
Wu Hao and the others once planned to dock this expandable inflatable space capsule with our own space station. This would be a lot more convenient and allow for more experiments and tests.
However, for the sake of safety, the relevant departments and expert groups rejected their request after many discussions and consultations.
After all, it is about the great cause of aerospace development, the safety of the space station worth hundreds of billions, and the lives of several astronauts, so we have to be conservative.
Therefore, this inflatable and inflatable space capsule operates independently in space, and all operations of the space farm in this inflatable and inflatable space capsule rely on two self-developed intelligent robotic arms to operate according to the requirements. Program operation, or remote control operation.
In this way, the difficulty of the experiment is greatly increased.
Here, space is always in a state, which increases the difficulty of setting up the entire space farm. Secondly, the cultivation and daily care of so many plants are also very difficult.
A more difficult task is for the intelligent robotic arm to pick some vegetable leaves and then feed those types of insects.
In the weightless space, everything becomes difficult, let alone such meticulous work.
