VEGGIE: Farming in space

              When we think of the life of an astronaut, many of us picture those airtight bags of astronaut ice cream from the science center and a zero-gravity simulator that makes most of us vomit.  Astronauts are our contemporary Magellans - explorers of the last frontier.  Farmers are the last role we expect an astronaut to be described as.  VEGGIE is NASA's new vegetable production system.  It is set to launch on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on NASA’s third Commercial Resupply Services mission next year.  The system has built-in adjustments to deal with microgravity as well as optimize energy efficiency. Farmers will not be able to grow large crops like tomatoes or melons with long growing times, but they will be able to plant things like bok choy, radishes and leafy greens.  Astronauts will not be able to eat the veggies right away, however.  Samples will be sent back to earth and tested for microbials before the okay is given to ingest.  Historically, vegetables had been sent up to the station and eaten up quickly.  So creating a sustainable alternative that is able to be grown right on the station will aid in the nutrition of the astronauts, as well.
              The idea of growing food in space brings up a possibility that we have yet to explore on earth.  VEGGIE will not be using direct sunlight.  Instead, different LEDS will be used.  LEDS are a very efficient form of light.  One LED can stay lit for thousands of hours, drawing comparatively less energy than fluorescent or incandescent.  The plants will also be grown on teflon pillows the article talks about.  Although this sounds very, well for lack of a better word, space-agey, it does bring up possibilities of growing certain crops indoors during winter months.  This would prevent the need for transporting certain crops over very large distances.  And the price of growth power-wise is the same amount of energy drawn by a microwave.  And if this energy were to be from solar-panels, it is almost conceivable that this could be an alternative to transporting crops from warmer places.  
               I don't know if I would be comfortable eating vegetables grown indoors on teflon pillows, but if it meant better use of land and possibly reverting cropland back to more vegetative spaces to help counteract climate change, then maybe this new method is worth considering on a wider scale here on earth.
                

http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/nasas-veggie-system-will-make-space-farmers-out-space-cowboys.html