Turning organic nutrient back into inorganic is downright wasteful. Plants and animals assimilate better the organic forms of a nutrient.
Below is a presentation from the head of the Nutrition lab at NASA. Much as the relevance is a bit tangential, the 2 hour lecture is a great reminder of how creating a proper balanced meal and having astronauts actually eat it is quite difficult. Before we go on planning a diet based on algae and bugs, ask yourself: Will the astronauts actually eat it? Apparently the only time that astronauts ate their entire RDA was during Skylab.
Unless there's existing research on directly converting plant waste into hydroponic-compatible nutrients.
Quote from: Paul451 on 11/01/2016 07:14 am Unless there's existing research on directly converting plant waste into hydroponic-compatible nutrients.There is such research. Both at NASA and at ESA. It is not too hard to break down biologic material in vats. It should be only the last step, after it has been used to feed funghi, that can be used for food.
Eu-CROPIS, a German-European experiment to see how plants grow in reduced gravity, both Moon and Mars, is moving forward. Space.com has an article:http://www.space.com/35533-space-greenhouses-moon-mars-greenhouse.html
I'm posting this here as I have been told it's not specifically SpaceX.
Quote from: lamontagne on 02/10/2017 12:15 pmI'm posting this here as I have been told it's not specifically SpaceX.Sorry. I meant only general discussion of growing plants and algae are not specifically SpaceX. Your large scale settlement renders are great and I would think that no one but SpaceX would facilitate them in any reasonable timeframe. My remark was not meant in any way negative. Thanks though for posting it here.
This thread is not specifically SpaceX. For all we know the Interplanetary Transport System could go the way of the National Aerospace Plane, which was THE coolest thing when I got into space as a kid. There is lots of information on the thread, lots of theories and educated speculation and very little concrete stuff. After all the closest we ever got to agriculture on Mars was the student experiment on the MarsOne surface probe to grow arabidiopsis on Mars. What are water biomes? What are green bags? What are greenhouse bags? Do not assume we all understand what you are taking for granted. Is a water biome a pool of water where you somehow grow crops?
What are water biomes? What are green bags? What are greenhouse bags? Do not assume we all understand what you are taking for granted. Is a water biome a pool of water where you somehow grow crops?
Quote from: AegeanBlue on 02/10/2017 04:55 pmWhat are water biomes? What are green bags? What are greenhouse bags? Do not assume we all understand what you are taking for granted. Is a water biome a pool of water where you somehow grow crops?Use your Google-Fu. It is powerful!
The problem with algae based diet, discussed ad nauseum in this thread, is that it becomes toxic to monogastric animals such as homo sapiens at 50 g/day. It can form a supplement but not the base of a diet.