DesignBoom has a look at NASA’s prototype greenhouse, developed at the University of Arizona, which may travel to Mars in the near future and help astronauts farm their produce on the Red Planet. The structure is a cylinder in shape and can deploy quickly once at it’s destination. It uses both LED and natural light to grow, and has a sophisticated support system:
The 18 X 7 ft deployable greenhouse can also be used for air revitalization, water recycling or waste recycling. The idea is for carbon dioxide exhaled by the astronauts to be introduced into the martian/ lunar greenhouse, which is then used by the plants to photosynthesize and generate oxygen. the whole process is called a bioregenerative life support system.
Growing lettuce aboard the ISS
