txchnologist: Cheaper Space Salads on the Menu The energy cost to grow astronaut salads is set to se
txchnologist: Cheaper Space Salads on the Menu The energy cost to grow astronaut salads is set to seriously drop. LED lighting with a custom recipe of red and blue bulbs might be the key to keeping spacefarers on long missions well fed without taxing energy supplies. New research out of Purdue University has shown that leaf lettuce can grow normally with a mix of 95 percent red LED lights and five percent blue. In lab tests, horticulturalist Cary Mitchell and colleagues grew a variety of head lettuce called Waldmann’s hydroponically in chambers that controlled temperature, relative humidity and CO2 levels. The scientists found that targeted red and blue LEDs consumed 90 percent less energy than traditional grow systems that slurp up to 1,000 watts. Maximizing the emission of only wavelengths that the lettuce needs to grow, they also recorded 50 percent less energy use than broad-spectrum LED systems, themselves highly efficient energy sippers. And because LEDs produce little waste heat, bulbs can be placed an inch-and-a-half away from growing leaves without scorching them. This proximity to the plant canopy means more efficient use of space in the confines of a spaceship, less danger from burning hot traditional lightbulbs and higher conversion of electricity directly into the chemical energy plants use to grow. Keep reading -- source link
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