Chinese astronauts are preparing to grow vegetables in space, with both Mars and the Moon named as potential outer space allotment sites. Researchers have successfully completed preliminary tests in the Chinese capital of Beijing, according to official state media reports by the Xinhua News Agency.
The ‘ecological life support system’ will allow astronauts to develop their own stocks of air, water and food while on space missions, growing vegetables ‘in extra-terrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars’, and also being able to harvest ‘fresh vegetables for meals’, said a researcher at Beijing’s Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Centre.
Earlier this year, China became only the third nation in history to successfully complete a manned space docking (following in the footsteps of America and Russia), when three astronauts on the Shenzhou 9 capsule, including China’s first ever female space traveller, completed the country’s first ever docking with the Tiangong 1 orbiting module, 343km above planet Earth.
Ambitious China remains on course to become the first nation to build a manned space station by 2020, while the country also has ambitions of sending a man to the Moon. Source: www.metro.co.uk
