Compact Farms

In my last two blogs, I wrote about two different types of propulsion for use in space. These propulsion methods, or at least the ion thruster, would be most useful for long distance space travel. Once you start going on longer and longer trips, you start to run into problems. One of the major ones is the life support. One of the most prevalent problems with supporting life on a space ship is food. The most obvious way to get food is to bring it with you. This works fine for shorter missions, but it becomes impractical quickly as the mission lengths increase.

A solution to this would be making a farm. Not farming things like corn and wheat like on earth, that would be to inefficient and inconsistent. It would be an algae farm. This could be made extremely efficient by having the farm be on stacked trays with built in light sources, to maximize use of space. The algae could be genetically modified to produce the amino acids and some of the nutrients that we cannot produce and require in our diet. This farm would also help to eliminate carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. The water and nutrients for growing the algae would come from recycled human wastes. This type of farm would be self-sustaining, because we only borrow everything, so the total number of each of the atoms in the system stays constant. This cyclic nature makes this feasible for even the longest of trips.

The trays would consist of a repeating pattern of three layers. The first layer would be a solid layer for structural support and electronic housing that is reflective on one side. The second layer, attached to and powered by the first, would be a simple array of growing light LEDs embedded in a light scattering material to make growth more even. The third layer, between the growing light and reflective barrier, would be the algae populated nutrient solution. This solution would be constantly circulated through the air control system to exchange gases, and the waste processing to get the recycled nutrients.

This idea of an aqueous algae farm would be self-sustaining and very compact. This would become increasingly economical and efficient with increasing trip lengths. It would also be invaluable in “stationary” structures such as the International Space Station that will be in space and requiring food for years. Systems like this are the advancements that we need to make in order to do most of the things that are now thought of as mere ideas such as manned travel out of earth's gravity well or even out of our home solar system.