
Microbiological and Nutritional Analysis of Lettuce Grown on the ISS - bookofjoe
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00199/full
======
cbhl
After reading this study I was curious whether or not the astronauts had eaten
the lettuce.

Then I came across this NYTimes piece, which says, "In 2015, the astronauts
wiped the leaves with sanitizing wipes before eating them."

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/science/space-lettuce-
ast...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/science/space-lettuce-astronaut-
food.html)

So it sounds like there's definitely lots of future work still to be done.

~~~
kylek
Thanks, I was really only looking for a picture of the space lettuce

~~~
Melting_Harps
> Thanks, I was really only looking for a picture of the space lettuce

This is Veggie, the apparatus on the ISS used to make the lettuce for the
studies seen in the article:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9aR2-7sOjg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9aR2-7sOjg)

I'm deeply fascinated with the food supply/chain in longterm Space Travel and
colonization. Lettuce is low hanging fruit, I hope that we see a vast amount
of innovation in this space that allows for greater (ideally autonomous)
modular growing spaces. This is a critical component to having a permanent
settlement on Mars, having to rely on re-supply missions from Earth (Starship
will drop the cost significantly) is untenable when you start scaling the
population beyond an outpost.

If you're interested check out the talks from Mars Society convention(s) here:

[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarsSociety/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarsSociety/videos)

~~~
RobertoG
>>"I'm deeply fascinated with the food supply/chain in longterm Space Travel
and colonization"

You could be interested in these guys[1]. They are collaborating with ESA in
that subject. The Youtube interview[2] is really interesting.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Foods)
[2][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Iv0857U3UE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Iv0857U3UE)

~~~
Melting_Harps
Pretty cool, the developments of getting edible protein from atmospheric
elements sounds really rad, especially if they're targeting using renewables.

Personally, I think for terrestrial use it will have limited applications as
Ag can deliver plant proteins with great efficiency, animal less so, but if
given a choice over a soylent-green type slury or an egg piece or grilled
chicken I think I'd opt for the egg/chicken every time. My diet is already
optimized at a 7:1 plant to animal protein ratio, I don't think I can go any
higher on the plant side without compromising my strength training as I need
lots of HDL fat to recover.

However, I wonder how this tech would work on the way to Mars and once there
since there aren't any external sources to derive them from? Martian
atmosphere is ~3% N, as opposed to ~78% on Earth. I understand they want to
create a closed-loop system with re-utilization, but I wonder if they will
need to develop some sort of tech to efficiently extract the N from urea when
re-processing the water and then use it that way. That';s my best guess,
because its about ~6 months to Mars and there is no way a payload with Humans,
equipment, supplies, water can sustain them for that long.

Either way, I bookmarked there site and will periodically check it out,
thanks!

------
contingencies
This guy has been involved in all the NASA food experiments.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAKc9gpGjw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAKc9gpGjw)

------
Gatsky
tldr: space lettuce is still lettuce

~~~
igravious
yes :) “Flight and ground tissue showed differences in Fe, K, Na, P, S, and Zn
content and total phenolic levels, but no differences in anthocyanin and ORAC
levels. _This study indicated that leafy vegetable crops can produce safe,
edible, fresh food to supplement to the astronauts’ diet, and provide baseline
data for continual operation of the Veggie plant growth units on ISS._ ”

