Fresh vegetables for astronauts.

Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs... sounds delicious, right? Most importantly, they are healthy! We want to provide astronauts on long-term missions with fresh ingredients for their meals. That is why we grow vegetables in DLR’s greenhouse in Antarctica, EDEN ISS. The fruits and vegetables thrive there with the help of artificial light and effective nutrient solutions, but without any soil. The greenhouse thus simulates the environment in space or on the moon and Mars.

We put both the greenhouse technology and the plants to the test. In addition to providing fresh food, growing vegetables in space has other advantages. These plants, for example, release oxygen and thus provide fresh air to breathe. The system also forms a kind of water cycle; the plants use processed urine as a nutrient and release clean water through evaporation and condensation. And, last but not least, the plants also help to maintain the mental health of the astronauts on long missions.

In its first test run, the EDEN greenhouse already yielded a bountiful harvest. It produced 268 kilograms of food in an area of only 12.5 square meters. Among this were 67 kilograms of cucumbers, 117 kilograms of lettuce, and 50 kilograms of tomatoes.

(Photo: DLR (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0))