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TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Professors and students at the University of Tulsa are developing a system to help astronauts grow their own food during future space missions.
Rocketing astronauts all the way to Mars requires overcoming extremely complex technical hurdles. And as portrayed in the upcoming movie "The Martian," one of the big problems is downright basic — what will the astronauts eat?
Parameswar Hari, an associate professor at the University of Tulsa's Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, said the eight- to 10-month flight time in each direction means the crew will need a large amount of food, and weight can become a cost issue.
"It's an estimated $10,000 per pound of material for a trip to Mars," he said.
That's why a group of professors and students from TU have embarked on their own three-year mission to develop a system to help astronauts grow their own food with algae, the Tulsa World reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/1La78Cp ).
TU's project is sponsored by a $750,000 grant from NASA's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. When finished, it will be sent up in space on an unmanned satellite to see how well it works.
Daniel Crunkleton, associate professor of chemical engineering and director of TU's Institute of Alternative Energy, says the project focuses on algae because of previous work with the simple, typically microscopic plant life.
"We had been working with algae for fuel, so we started to look at it for food," he said.
The project will focus on improving the growth rate of algae to ensure astronauts have a sufficient amount to eat. But rather than attempt to alter the algae, the project will strive to give algae an optimal growth environment.
As plants, algae need sunlight to grow, Crunkleton said. But sunlight produces a wide range of wavelengths, and algae only respond to a relatively narrow range of wavelengths.
The researchers want to find a way to concentrate sunlight into that narrow range of wavelengths for the algae. Ken Roberts, an associate professor in chemical engineering, said researchers plan to accomplish this by developing a specific type of nanoparticle coating that will be applied over high-transmission solar glass that doesn't absorb much energy.
TU had previously received a NASA grant to create improved batteries engineered with nanotechnology. Crunkleton said that research is ongoing.
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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com
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