A strange experiment that can provide future Martians tomatoes

Fish tank filled with urine, that's the first thing you see coming in a close Cabinet of Jens Haulage in the German space Agency DLR, near Cologne. It sits on a shelf at his table, surrounded by academic books, diagrams and research papers. From the center of the tank rises two transparent plastic cylindrical columns of about one meter in height. At the top of each tube spreads its leaves thick, healthy looking Bush of tomatoes, green, with flowers and even some tomatoes.

"are They edible?", I ask, not to be trapped.

"Sure," says Hausler, plant physiologist, casually wrings one of the tomatoes from the stem and passes me the fruit the size of a coin. I put it in my mouth. In truth, it is not the most tasty tomato I've ever tasted: leather is a bit stiff, and it tastes slightly bitter. But it is, nevertheless, a healthy edible tomato.

the

Recycled sweat

Not surprisingly, the tomatoes in the office Haulage not the most delicious. These plants are specially bred to be grown in space. This experimental tank urine pipes and plants — the original prototype for the satellite, designed to prove that tomatoes can be successfully grown on the moon or Mars.

Currently, nearly all food on the International space station is transported on cargo ships from Earth. The only exception — a few salads and cabbage leaves, which the astronauts managed to grow in hydroponic solutions. However, most of the water on Board the ISS comes from the urine of astronauts. Liquid waste from washing, perspiration and toilets using sophisticated system of treatment. Today's pee is tomorrow's coffee.

But what if useful salts in the urine of astronauts could be used for growing food? If people are going to live on the moon or Mars for long periods of time, they need self-sustaining system of food. "Gonna need more than protein bars," says Hauser.

"On the Earth is a closed biological system with plants produces oxygen and food, and the animals and microbes produce all the process of decay in the soil," he says. "Without these systems, stable and long-term life support system would not exist".

In his laboratory urine quite a lot — it is spilling out over the vats, funnels, hoses. A large part of its faux — combined so that scientists know the exact chemical composition for their experiments — but some part was provided by the volunteers. The walls are lined with gray plastic drain tubes attached to the plastic boxes filled with bubbling artificial urine. In the center of the room, from plastic barrels with urine grow large terracotta pipe.

"the Smaller columns can process urine per person per day," explains Hausler. "Column a little more able to cope with the urine four to six people".

Each of these columns Packed pumice — solidified lava, studded with holes, in which live lush colonies of bacteria. These microbes feed on the urine, which is pumped through the tubes, other converts ammonia into nitrites and others convert it into the nitrate salt fertilizer.

This is a controlled laboratory version of the nitrogen cycle, which usually occurs in soils and watercourses of the Earth. In the same way as with urine, this is a closed biological system can be used for processing food debris or leaves that fall off plants.

It is Curious that even though we are in a room with gallons of urine, no smell no. "Urine pretty quickly breaks down into carbon dioxide and ammonia," says Hausler. "And the bacteria in our filters also work fast".

Developing the technology in the lab, the science team DLR now plans to display it in its orbit. At the end of this year, the space Agency will launch its mission Eu:cropis (a complex acronym), a cylindrical meter satellite with two miniature greenhouses.

Launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the satellite will orbit the Earth, will make tomato seeds, reservoir, artificial urine and bacterial colonies. The spacecraft will spin to simulate the gravity of the moon for the first greenhouse. After six months the speed will be increased to simulate Martian gravity, when the network will be connected to the second greenhouse.

Initially, oxygen will be produced by a colony of green algae — euglena — but then the tomato plants will produce more oxygen than carbon dioxide.

"After running spin the satellite and polem system," says Hausler. "Tomatoes will grow and we will feed the system urine for the production of tomatoes".

The plants will be carefully monitored with an array of 16 cameras and the data will be send to Earth four times a day. Although this is not the first case when tomatoes go up in space, this is the first satellite designed for growing plants in a closed system.

If the mission is successful, it could pave the way for growing plants on other worlds. But how about using other human waste: faeces?

The "Martian" we saw Matt Damon grows potatoes on Mars on the soil of human excrement. Currently solid waste on the ISS packaged and dispatched with a load to burn in the Earth's atmosphere.

"For me as a scientist feces is not as Golden as urine," says Hauser, "but contain a lot of potassium, which is needed for a good fertilizer". However, solid waste is hazardous pathogens that will have to carefully filter and process.

However, it is likely that nothing in the future colony on the moon or on Mars will not be thrown away — everything will be recycled. And feeding of dozens of settlers on a remote world will not be easy.

"You need a lot of calories, so you have to make a bunch of potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, need proteins and fats," says Hausler. The last group of products is a particular problem, but his team has already selected a solution: "We also conducted an experiment in the production of fat with a solution of seaweed, using our water with urine".

I Wonder, will space restaurant ever Michelin star?

...