1. Aquatic invertebrate protein sources for long-duration space travel
- Author
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Luke Roberson, Adrienne Smiley, Sandra Gilchrist, Jared Peick, Melanie Pickett, Lara Brown, and Tracy Fanara
- Subjects
Aquatic Organisms ,Extraterrestrial Environment ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Aquaculture ,Space (commercial competition) ,01 natural sciences ,Water Purification ,0103 physical sciences ,International Space Station ,Animals ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Invertebrate ,Radiation ,Ecology ,business.industry ,Environmental resource management ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Invertebrates ,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Habitat ,Work (electrical) ,Sustainability ,Environmental science ,Dietary Proteins ,business ,Ecological Systems, Closed - Abstract
During the summer of 2020, NASA returned to launching astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) from American soil. By 2024, NASA's mission is to return to the Moon, and by 2028 create a sustainable presence. Long duration missions come with obstacles, especially when trying to create a sustainable environment in a location where "living off the land" is impossible. Some resources on the Moon can be recovered or resupplied; however, many resources such as those needed for sustaining life must be recycled or grown to support humans. To achieve sustainability, food and water must be grown and recycled using elements found within the habitat. NASA's current work focuses on food resupply and growing plants as supplemental nutrient content. This paper examines the possibility for using aquaculture systems to purify water while growing nutrient-rich species as food sources, which aquatic food sources would be ideal for a habitat environment, and which species might provide an ideal test case for future studies aboard ISS. The aquatic species should be rapidly grown with high protein content and low launch mass requirements. Although there are numerous challenges and unknown technology gaps for maintaining aquaculture systems in reduced gravity environments, the benefit of employing such systems would be of great advantage towards creating a sustainable presence beyond Earth's orbit for sustainable aquaculture.
- Published
- 2021
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