Plants and the person. Plants in the closed systems and in spaceships

you are: Plants and the person

Cultivation of plants at artificial illumination and at supply by their mineral substances by a method of nutritious films. Cultivation of plants in such a way, despite its complexity and high cost, will extend, especially in such areas as Alaska where the vegetative period too short or too cold, and transportation cost so is great that the price of vegetables appears improbably high. Advantages of this method consist in possibility to create a condition at which the maximum growth rate and the highest productivity in a combination to absolutely closed environment, free from wreckers and activators of illnesses are reached. Development of researches in this direction has naturally led to thought on possibility of cultivation of plants at space stations, outside of influence of a gravitational field of the Earth.

Today travel and a life in space became a reality. After moonfalls have been made, it became clear that the person it will be inevitable to try to get and further. When it will direct to other planets space travel will proceed not some days or weeks, and many months and years. If at short travel all necessary food and water can be grasped from the Earth for travel on the big distances or for constant space stations more independent and closed life-support systems be required. Plants, obviously, will serve valuable and, possibly, major component of such system because they can provide not only constant supply by food, but also processing of products of allocation of the person. The people making space travel, will absorb oxygen at breath and to exhale carbonic gas; green plants by means of photosynthesis make return process. Products of allocation of the person. Can partially satisfy requirements of plants for nutrients, and allocated with them at transpiratsii the water in appropriate way condensed, could serve as potable water for people. Now on the Earth experiments in the closed capsules are already made to show possibility of successful functioning of such closed systems.

Plants in space could be grown up approximately the same as and in the adjustable environments created on the Earth, having brought in this method some changes. Illumination will be created by electric lamps, and energy necessary for it will be delivered by the solar elements which are out of a spaceship. Though plants will be in the environment, free from action of gravitational forces, weak centrifugal forces can influence their orientation in space; orientation of plants can be promoted also by phototropism. to keep water round roots, it is possible to use an artificial field of centrifugal forces or for lack of gravitation to place roots in the soldered vessels so that only runaways outside acted. Besides, it can be necessary to catch numerous flying substances allocated with plants on filters from the activated coal which, possibly, will be anyhow necessary for air clearing. For reception of food, clearing of air and processing of garbage it is possible to use also such monocelled seaweed, as hlorella, grown up in huge hermetically sealed shined containers. Probably that for increase in dimensions of food and its variety, and also to optimum use of clearing properties of two described systems will be applied both monocelled seaweed, and multicellular plants.

Space Development was for us an unexpected source of new data which influence use by the person of plants on the Earth. Supervision over the vegetation, made by the companions deduced into circumterraneous orbits with photographing use at different lengths of waves, allow to define character of vegetation, degree of distribution of illnesses and large-scale ecological tendencies. On the basis of the data received thus it is possible to plan the important agricultural and forestry actions. Supervision, from companions for the present are in embryo, and it is necessary to expect that in the future they will be used much more widely.