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A Review of Off-World in Bioregenerative Food Systems

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Journal of the Indian Institute of Science Aims and scope

Abstract

The history of agriculture on Earth has spanned thousands of years marked by great innovations needed to meet the challenges of the day. The space environment presents new challenges for growing plants from partial gravity to recycling plant and human waste in a closed environment. Regolith plays an important role in research for developing agricultural systems on planetary surfaces such as the moon and Mars. This work reviews the history of growing plants in space and regolith-based agriculture including the challenges faced and the solutions attempted. Though many solutions have been developed, significant knowledge gaps remain which provide great opportunities for the future of off-world agricultural research and great returns for creating more sustainable practices for terrestrial agriculture.

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Acknowledgements

Great thanks to acknowledge my advisors Paul Schroder, Nitin Singh, and Kasthuri Venkateswaran for their advice and guidance and my committee Paul Schroeder, Christian Klimczak, Aaron Thompson, and Mussie Habteselassie for their support and time commitments.

Funding

This work was supported by the Miriam Watts-Wheeler Fund in the department of geology at the University of Georgia, the Clay Minerals Society Research Grant Program, and Sigma Xi grants in aid of research [Grant Number G20201001105594777].

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  1. Department of Geology, University of Georgia, 210 Field Street, Athens, GA, USA

    Laura Fackrell

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Fackrell, L. A Review of Off-World in Bioregenerative Food Systems. J Indian Inst Sci 103, 807–817 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41745-023-00381-w

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