Spirulina goes to the ISS to see how it lives in space. It is part of MELiSSA which is also sending more experiments to the ISS to see how biological ECLSS will work:http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/Planting_oxygen
Growing Mizuna On The International Space Stationhttp://spaceref.com/international-space-station/growing-mizuna-on-the-international-space-station.htmlNo idea what is mizuna
Yeah, I think hydroponics is the way to go for a while. Eventually we'll make soil by composting stuff, but it'll take a while, and hydroponics has a lot going for it.I still think 90% of our calories will be grown in a vat (or grown in a vat before being fed to animals like fish or something), not in a field (hydroponic or otherwise). This will be true for a very long time, probably indefinitely. It's just ultimately a more efficient use of resources. And contrary to what Aegean claims, on Mars nitrogen fixation will be more efficient if done chemically, and this will probably be true until we terraform the place.Washed Mars rocks can serve as hydroponic media. When it gets clogged with roots and stuff, we can crush it and mix with compost to make true soil.
My understanding about the NASA plan is that they will follow the Apollo paradigm: The mission kit is designed for a conjunction mission, stay in Mars for almost an entire year. However the first mission is likely to be an opposition mission, stay in Mars for 30 sols. This is the same way that Apollo 11 was a single EVA lasting 3 hours, versus the three day Apollo J missions. Knowing how NASA worked during the Apollo race and considering what has been published of the plans so far, after the LOP-G as is currently called basically shows what can and cannot work away from Earth, a series of rehearsals will follow away from the Earth moon system such as Earth-trailing mission or Crewed Venus flyby and then a Mars orbital mission with a visit to Phobos and Deimos before then follows the next landing. This is a pretty slow and conservative plan, but it is consistent with what NASA does nowadays, there is no risk for Apollo 1 and Apollo 13 anymore. As for agriculture, I am pretty we will see updates of the APH (Advanced Plant Habitat) on the LOP-G and whatever follows. There will likely be a plant growth experiment that can be manipulated remotely on the first Mars mission, but real agriculture comes afterwards. What is SpaceX plan, I have no clue
Food and agricultural products in general are not produced continually assembly line style, biology works in growth spurts. Even algae (which I think would be the best first crop) will produce in cycles. As a result just to keep the people there you need to produce twice what you need in order to cover shortfalls and spoilage.
Say your food stores for 10 years; 1/10th of it spoils every year.
Assembly line style production, which happens in big greenhouses in places such as the Netherlands and Japan in very possible. The main issue though would be photoperiodism: some plant require particular day and night lengths to go between growing stages. I am thinking that especially if hydroponics is the way to go, where plants have a faster biological cycle, everything will be optimized to minimize the cycle so as to have more production in the same time.
Many plants, in order to move from vegetative growth to the flowering stage require a particular day length. Oats require short nights in order to flower, while rice long nights. Modern breeds have reduced these requirements, which is why we have tomatoes in the winter despite having long nights, but it is still a real phenomenon. Perennials are a whole other category, they may require sufficient cold units along with day length.