Mar 3, 2021 12:19 AM
(This post was last modified: Mar 3, 2021 12:19 AM by C C.)
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/the-p...-the-moon/
EXCERPTS: Cyrille Przybyla, an aquaculture researcher at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea who led the research, dreams of designing a lunar fish farm that uses water already on the moon to help feed residents of the future Moon Village set to be established by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Lunar Hatch project is just one of around 300 ideas currently under evaluation by the ESA, and may or may not be selected for the final mission. Przybyla’s hope, though, is to offer lunar residents fresh, appetizing, protein-rich food—not just packets of freeze-dried grub.
“I proposed the idea to send eggs, not fish, because eggs and embryos are very strong,” says Przybyla. His experiments so far suggest that he is right. However, his team’s research has also suggested that not all fish are equally spaceworthy.
[...] Przybyla suspects that, having evolved to withstand the adversities of aquatic environments—where they might endure strong currents, waves, and collisions with hard surfaces—the fish eggs are naturally space-ready.
Besides the nutritional boon of moon-farmed fish fillets, Przybyla suggests there will be other benefits for astronauts who may one day find themselves rearing animals in space. “From the psychological point of view, it’s better to have a reminder of Earth—you have a garden, you have a tank with fish,” he says.
Luke Roberson, a researcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, agrees. Astronauts living on the International Space Station regularly spend time tending to and visiting the plants they grow on board, he says... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Cyrille Przybyla, an aquaculture researcher at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea who led the research, dreams of designing a lunar fish farm that uses water already on the moon to help feed residents of the future Moon Village set to be established by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Lunar Hatch project is just one of around 300 ideas currently under evaluation by the ESA, and may or may not be selected for the final mission. Przybyla’s hope, though, is to offer lunar residents fresh, appetizing, protein-rich food—not just packets of freeze-dried grub.
“I proposed the idea to send eggs, not fish, because eggs and embryos are very strong,” says Przybyla. His experiments so far suggest that he is right. However, his team’s research has also suggested that not all fish are equally spaceworthy.
[...] Przybyla suspects that, having evolved to withstand the adversities of aquatic environments—where they might endure strong currents, waves, and collisions with hard surfaces—the fish eggs are naturally space-ready.
Besides the nutritional boon of moon-farmed fish fillets, Przybyla suggests there will be other benefits for astronauts who may one day find themselves rearing animals in space. “From the psychological point of view, it’s better to have a reminder of Earth—you have a garden, you have a tank with fish,” he says.
Luke Roberson, a researcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, agrees. Astronauts living on the International Space Station regularly spend time tending to and visiting the plants they grow on board, he says... (MORE - details)