Science News Desk – NASA astronauts are currently growing “microalgae” on the International Space Station (ISS). The US space agency also shared a photo on Thursday of astronaut Nick Hague, in which he is seen working on Arthrospira C. This is a pilot project testing the best lighting conditions for growing microalgae on the space station. There is a future plan behind this strange NASA experiment. In fact, the success of this experiment will reduce our dependence on rations during long missions. NASA said growing algae in space could photosynthesize carbon dioxide and produce nutrient-rich food in a confined spacecraft.
This experiment is about NASA’s future plan
Some of the air and water, as well as all the food for the ISS astronauts, are brought into space from Earth via cargo resupply missions. This is very expensive and makes space missions heavily dependent on Earth’s resources for support. For future long-range missions beyond low Earth orbit (e.g., the Moon and Mars), astronauts will need to travel for longer periods of time. If the mission is very distant and long, it may not be practical or possible to continuously provide rations to the astronauts. In such a situation, space agencies are exploring various ways to recycle air and water and produce food in space using biotechnology.
What are algae?
Microalgae are algae invisible to the naked eye. These are phytoplankton commonly found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both water and sediment. They are single-celled species that exist individually, in chains, or in groups. Algae is often confused with “moss” because mosses are plants, while fungi (algae) are neither plants nor animals. The main difference between algae and moss is that they cannot make their own food like moss can.
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