Lettuce, carrots, sunflowers, potatoes, wheat... The first Aerospace Medical Engineering Conference was held in Tianjin from the 19th to the 20th. During the conference, astronaut Zhang Hongzhang from Shenzhou-21 showcased the fruitful achievements of China's space station's "space vegetable garden" through photos and videos.
Bian Qiang from the Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center introduced that as of now, China has completed in orbit cultivation experiments for more than 20 varieties of 14 plants, laying a solid technical foundation for large-scale planting in future space stations.
In October 2021, astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping, and Ye Guangfu from Shenzhou-13 successfully entered the Tianhe core module, ushering in an era of long-term human presence on the Chinese space station.
Long term space residency requires reducing dependence on Earth's supplies. The controlled ecological life preservation technology experiment we are conducting aims to establish an ecosystem in space, achieve in-situ regeneration of water, gas, and food, thereby reducing the dependence of extraterrestrial life on Earth's supplies and even achieving self-sufficiency, "said Bian Qiang.
Controlled ecological life support technology, also known as third-generation environmental control life support technology, establishes a closed and controlled ecosystem through artificial means to provide efficient circulation and regeneration of atmosphere, water, and food for astronauts in orbit, and to establish a life and health protection system suitable for long-term human habitation.
Bian Qiang introduced that the controlled ecological life support system is a life support system characterized by biological regeneration and constructed by integrating non regeneration and physicochemical regeneration technologies. At present, the two plant cultivation devices deployed on the space station, namely substrate culture and aerosol culture, are continuously operating, accumulating valuable experience for establishing a basic controlled ecological life support system that focuses on physical and chemical regeneration and combines small-scale biological regeneration.
In 2025, we have installed a more efficient cultivation device and achieved efficient plant cultivation through aerosol cultivation, "Bian Qiang said." Among them, wheat has completed the full cycle of cultivation from seed to heading and then to maturity. We have carried out the second round of sowing on the wheat harvested in orbit, and it is currently growing well and is about to usher in a bumper harvest
With the gradual implementation of China's lunar exploration project, we will establish a Chinese 'lunar vegetable garden' on the moon in the future, "Bian Qiang said. (Outlook New Era)