Challenges for a Sustainable Food Production System on Board of the International Space Station: A Technical Review
Open accessAbstract
The possibility of prolonging space missions—and consequently the permanence of humans in space—depends on the possibility of providing them with an adequate supply of fresh foods to meet their nutritional requirements. This would allow space travelers to mitigate health risks associated with exposure to space radiation, microgravity and psychological stress. In this review, we attempt to critically summarize existing studies with the aim of suggesting possible solutions to overcome the challenges to develop a bio-regenerative life support system (BLSS) that can contribute to life support, supplying food and O2, while removing CO2 on the International Space Station (ISS). We describe the physical constraints and energy requirements for ISS farming in relation to space and energy resources, the problems related to lighting systems and criteria for selecting plants suitable for farming in space and microgravity. Clearly, the dimensions of a growth hardware that can be placed on ISS do not allow to produce enough fresh food to supplement the stored, packaged diet of astronauts; however, experimentation on ISS is pivotal for implementing plant growth systems and paves the way for the next long-duration space missions, including those in cis-lunar space and to the lunar surface.
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Specialized equipment, such as an irrigation and nutrient delivery system effective in a microgravity environment, is needed.
“Hence, specialized equipment, such as an irrigation and nutrient delivery system which are effective in a microgravity environment is needed [91].”
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References 102 · Cited by 74
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- Authors
- Carillo, P., Morrone, B., Fusco, G. M., De Pascale, S., & Rouphael, Y.
- Affiliations
- University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT)
- Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80055 Portici, Italy
- University of Naples Federico II (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Carillo, Petronia
- Rouphael, Youssef
- Venue
- Agronomy
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-05-13
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 687
- ISSN
- 2073-4395 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3024530943
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 102
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10
- FWCI
- 4.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Agronomy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- INFM-OAR (INFN Catania) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli (Programma VALERE: Vanvitelli per la Ricerca)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Spaceflight effects on biology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Exploration and Technology
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics Systems
- Keywords
- space agriculture, International Space Station, plant growth systems, microgravity, astronaut nutrition, lighting systems, carbon dioxide removal, oxygen supply, long-duration spaceflight, lunar surface habitation, cislunar space
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