Space Ship based Hydroponics

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by hari

I know nothing about hydroponics in space. But I can tell you that aquaponics would definitely be better. It's a mix of hydroponics and aquaculture. It takes the negatives of each, adds them together, and makes something much better. A major drawback of hydroponics is that you have waste water that pollutes natural waters. That might not be a problem in space. A major drawback with aquaculture, the raising of seafood in captivity to eat, is also waste water and the pollution it causes. Again, maybe not an issue in space. In aquaponics water is continuously cycled back and forth between the fish and plants. The fish benefit by having the plants filter the water for them. The plants benefit by getting their nutrition from the fish. Beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia make up the last unseen part of the system. All in all, it makes up a closed nitrogen cycle that grows incredibly healthy food. For example, the plants can be grown unconventionally close together and are surprisingly resistant to disease simply due to being in very good health. It would also require significantly less water to do then hydroponics, as you would never have to throw any water out.

I've commonly heard this proposed, with the usual astronaut diet consisting of veggies, Tilapia, and shellfish, along with some algae (technically cyanobacteria, I think).

[hari]

Veggies, tilapia, shellfish and algae would be a healthy diet!

All the inputs it would require, and this is important, would be a little water, power to pump the water, and food for the fish (which could be human waste I believe).

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by hari

All the inputs it would require, and this is important, would be a little water, power to pump the water, and food for the fish (which could be human waste I believe).

Can't forget light, and you'll probably want to put some carbon into the system as CO2 rather than exclusively as fish food.

[hari]

Yeah, I totally forgot light. I didn't have any real time to think about it, was busy on a tight schedule at work. Light would be very important!

[Crakkerjakk]

Plus it gives you pretty aquariums on your ship. And all that water is good radiation shielding, probably want to wrap it around at least a storm shelter, or maybe the hab if you can afford that much mass.

[RobKamm]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

Plus it gives you pretty aquariums on your ship. And all that water is good radiation shielding, probably want to wrap it around at least a storm shelter, or maybe the hab if you can afford that much mass.

And liguistically we'd get to replace "canary in a coal mine" with "guppy in the rad shield" (or something like that).

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by RobKamm

And liguistically we'd get to replace "canary in a coal mine" with "guppy in the rad shield" (or something like that).

Fish are comparatively very resistant to ionizing radiation.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Fish are comparatively very resistant to ionizing radiation.

That could probably be adjusted, if one wanted to use the fish as canaries. Though with perfectly good technologies for detecting radiation, it doesn't seem like that attractive a notion.

[cjbeiting]

Originally Posted by RobKamm

And liguistically we'd get to replace "canary in a coal mine" with "guppy in the rad shield" (or something like that).

Say, how do fish manage in zero gravity? Have there been any long-term aquarium experiments done on the International Space Station or a Shuttle mission?

[benz72]

Originally Posted by cjbeiting

Say, how do fish manage in zero gravity? Have there been any long-term aquarium experiments done on the International Space Station or a Shuttle mission?

It's great for them.... they never float to the top.


+1 on the aquaponics suggestion, though i would intersperse a third tier with vermiculture. Feed waste to worms, feed worms to fish. Feed fish and veggies to crew, waste from crew, veggies and fish goes back to worms.