According to China's state press agency, Xinhua, the country's Astronaut Research and Training Center has just perfected a system that can be used to grow vegetables in a closed system. The technology could be used to sustain astronauts with a source of food and oxygen in a possible future base on the Moon.
Earlier this year, the Asian superpower announced it was planning to land an unmanned craft on the Moon in the second half of 2013. China's ambitious space program also includes a long-term plan for a manned moon landing, although no timeframe has been set for the latter objective. Now, it looks as if the country is looking even beyond a simple manned landing, as it is developing the capabilities that could one day lead to an extended stay on our rocky satellite.
The experiment, in collaboration with German scientists, took place in the Closed Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS), a small 300-m3 (10,000 ft3) cabin built in 2011 that is expected to be used in future extraterrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars.
Over the course of the experiment, two subjects lived inside the cabin and successfully managed to grow four different kinds of vegetables. The plants provided a steady source of food and oxygen for the astronauts, who, in turn, produced enough carbon dioxide to sustain plant growth. The system was shown to be sustainable in the long haul even though no new water or oxygen were introduced.
While a permanent moon base is probably still decades away, the system could find application in the shorter term. Even for a relatively short stay, in fact, this technology could be used to minimize an otherwise very expensive load of food and oxygen stock; with costs of a space launch approaching US$10,000 per pound, this could lead to substantial savings even for short missions spanning only a few days.
Sources: CELSS, Futron (PDF)
The Soviets planned for a lunar landing similar to the Apollo program, but that program was abandoned due to engineering failures and the poor Soviet economy.
It will be interesting to see where the Chinese lunar program follows the Soviet model, and where they diverge from it.
"too bad they can't get men to the moon to eat the food"
Their spaceship you see in your rear view mirror is getting closer each time you glimpse at it.
Hehe, I kill myself...
re; tampa florida
The USofA went to the moon in the worst possible way we spent ludicrous sums of money brought back a few tons of samples and when we were done we did not have any additional space based infrastructure. We would have been better off using lots of smaller rockets and building the lunar orbit transfer vehicle in space.
re; Jon A.
Given how poorly the (Absurdly poorly designed) shuttle performed it would be ludicrous for china to follow that example.
The Russians were more advanced in Robotics, and made a serious error in not developing that capability.It would have allowed them to land more often, do more research on Robotics and place them well ahead of the west in an area we all now recognise as a Prime area of technological development.