The construction of China’s space station has officially started, commercial spaceflight is in full swing, and people from Earth are flying into space more and more frequently. And just like 20 years ago, people couldn’t imagine smartphones, and the speed of technological development is often far beyond expectations. Maybe 30 years later, ordinary people can travel in space as easily and conveniently as a plane.

However, it is not possible to think about the best in everything. It is inevitable that everyone will be delayed when flying on a daily basis. In the more mysterious space, it is inevitable that some accidents will occur when taking a spacecraft. It is very important to make a plan.

Schematic diagram of the Chinese space station (Photo source: China Manned Space Administration)

Imagine that everyone has flown to a travel destination in space, and is wearing an extravehicular space suit to experience the vacuum, or is admiring the vast galaxy in front of the spacecraft window on the journey, but suddenly encounters a space “storm” (space weather forecasts will only be better than Earth’s) It is even more unreliable), unable to act on time, and the food you brought with you when you set off is almost exhausted, what should I do?

In other words, how do you get supplies if you are stuck somewhere in space because of special circumstances?

Many people must have blurted out: “Grow potatoes!”

Yes, science fiction works have shown us a lot of situations, which are divided into two categories.

First, space capsule cultivation and breeding. In recent years, Chinese spacecraft have carried the seeds of Earth’s crops to the sky many times. Researchers use the special environment of space to carry out various experiments. Thanks to the “genes that love planting vegetables” in China’s agricultural power, China has finally built a reusable regenerative health care system, which means that vegetables can be grown repeatedly in space capsules.

Imagining the future, in addition to carrying food products that do not affect the safety of the human body and equipment, space tourists will definitely be able to eat fresh green leafy vegetables.

Astronauts on the International Space Station have already tasted space pepper tortillas. As the space capsule planting business reaches a new peak, more and more plants are harvested. It is not a fantasy to raise little sheep in the space capsule. Everyone may have accidents in space. Mouth blessing.

Space peppers grown on the International Space Station (Photo credit: NASA official website)

Space chili tortillas made by astronauts (Photo credit: NASA official website)

Second, alien cultivation and breeding. Chinese and foreign scientific research teams have successfully cultivated plants using lunar soil.As space power generation projects provide more and more sufficient energy, taking into account the chemical and biotechnological progress of earthlings, it may be very close to the cultivation of potatoes and other crops in the lunar soil.

Astronomers have been working to find sources of water, soil and oxygen on nearby planets, after all water and oxygen are important building blocks for life on Earth. The scientific research team has found that there are active compounds in the lunar soil, which are expected to help synthesize oxygen and hydrogen, methane, methanol and other fuels.

Maybe in the near future, with the use of materials from alien planets and the “secret recipe”, people on earth can really learn from “astronaut Mark Watney”, develop suitable environments in space travel places such as Mars, and grow fast-growing plants . improve the quality of life. Breeding animals is also possible if local building conditions permit.

Are these ideas amazing? In fact, the people on earth who do this are all “hard-working and honest people”.

Today, there are no shortage of service areas for food supply near airports and highways. In the future, 24-hour convenience stores are likely to be opened during space travel. Materials are regularly replenished by spacecraft, and the inventory is sufficient for space tourists to consume for a long time.

If stocks are limited, space tourists can send a signal to Earth or a nearby space city for help, believing that China’s mature reusable cargo spacecraft will send supplies as soon as possible. This should be the most reliable way, after all, space tourists are not necessarily all vegetable gardeners.

With the continuous improvement of the reusability of cargo spacecraft, the comprehensive benefits of China’s transportation of space materials will be further improved. It will not be a distant dream to enjoy hot pot, barbecue and crayfish at the space station.

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