To the Moon and Beyond

[Jason Perlow]

Vickie, thanks so much for joining us on eGullet, and welcome!

This week it is expected that President Bush will announce his support for a continued manned space program, and will be asking Congress to commit to new Lunar space missions as well as begin the work and preparation for a manned mission to Mars.

What sort of food systems will be needed for a new Lunar mission, as well as for a permanent moon base? What sort of systems will be needed for a Mars mission? How would they be different from what we use today on the Shuttle, Soyuz and ISS?

[Vickie Kloeris]

Actually, the current food systems could likely support a Lunar base. Since the moon is not very far away, resupply would be feasible and thus tremendously long shelf life for the food would not be required. However, a mission to Mars is a whole different story. Because a round-trip mission to Mars (with current propulsion systems) is on the order of a three-year mission, a tremendous mass of food would be required to support say a crew of five on such a mission. Therefore, one option would be to send the food for the surface stay and the return trip from Mars ahead of the crew on an unmanned vehicle and have it waiting for them. In order to do this, you would need a complete food system with a shelf life on the order of five years. Although we do have a handful of products in our current system that might last that long, we certainly don't have a wide enough variety of products with a long enough shelf life to provide a nutritious diet for such a mission. Therefore, much work is needed to develop a balanced and varied food system with a five year shelf life. Unless of course the propulsion guys come up with a much quicker way to get to Mars!

[Jason Perlow]

I know that the ISS doesn't use a refrigeration system, but aren't temperatures on the moon so cold that you could keep foods in a frozen or refrigerated state, at least if you kept it in some sort of vault carved out of moon rock (presumably if you had some sort of base)? What about domed hydroponics systems like they had in the 1972 Sci-Fi movie Silent Running?

Mars, I realize, is a huge problem.

[Vickie Kloeris]

The problem with using the natural environment for cooling is that at times it is very cold, but at times it is very hot depending upon if an area is facing the sun or not. If power were available to run refrigerators and freezers, we could send such foods for the food system. The problem on ISS is there is not enough power to run refrigerators/freezers for food. It's all needed for experiements, etc. If you use frozen/refrigerated foods, then you also have to have equipment to launch them in a refrigerated/frozen state to get them to the moon. Not impossible, but expensive in dollars and resources, so it has to be traded off with other requirements for power, etc. Hydroponics is certainly an option for the moon or Mars, but certainly not on an initial trip. Lots of infrastructure has to be put in place ahead of time before plants for food can be successfully grown. A lunar base could certainly, in theory, serve as a test bed for a hydroponic system for Mars.

[jhlurie]

Take the hydroponics scenario a bit further... twenty years or more down the line. Do you think, Vickie, that it will ever be feasible to produce enough food on the moon to make a base reasonably self-sufficient foodwise? Could a moonbase go a bit further and eventually supply a Mars mission?

Obviously this is all deeply speculative, and far beyond the mere realm of supply and nutritional planning, but I'm curious if you think its in the cards some day.

[gus_tatory]

Since the moon is not very far away...

and yet, wouldn't want to walk it...

[Vickie Kloeris]

I think it is theoretically possible to make a base reasonably self-sufficient from a food point of view. After all our ancestors did it to a great degree in settling the west. However, there are many things that have to be taken into consideration. First, you don't just want the crew to survive. You want them to flourish and be in top physical and psychological condition. To maintain good health, you must have a nutritionally balanced menu. That is difficult with an all plant based diet, especially one that will be limited in the number of different crops that will be available (not everything will work in hydroponics...no fruit trees!). Second, the psychological aspect of food is extremely important to the well being of crewmembers. We are seeing this more and more on the International Space Station. A vegetarian diet will likely not "cut it" psychologically for some of the crewmembers. All this means you would likely supplement the plants with items you bring with you...spices, other ingredients, meat products, dairy products, etc.