The landscape in this artist’s impression may be a little fanciful but the veggie cultivator is very real. Veggie 01 was first used on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. Veggie was designed to be a low mass, low crew time-requiring, low power-consuming, simple, expandable, food crop production system. The first version of Veggie proved extremely successful, with testing confirming that the products were safe, nutrientrich and tasty. Astronauts were soon munching on lettuces germinated and cultivated in the microgravity of space.
The basis of the cultivator was plant ‘pillows’ — small packages of material topped with surface-sterilised seeds and transported into space. These ‘pillows’ were then hydrated and illuminated with LED lights to trigger germination and encourage growth. Success with new Veggie designs and several other crop plants quickly followed. ISS astronauts now routinely harvest fresh, vitamin-packed vegetables to supplement their diets.
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