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Link: http://www.billboardmama.com/los-angeles-hydroponics-and-martians-omelet-p-405.html

Lemme tell you, if you were stuck on the space station for 6 months and begun craving for a Denver omelet in Los Angeles, hydroponics would help you.

But let's go back a bit. Foremost, what is this Hydrowhatchamacallit? Plants don't actually need soil to thrive although we are accustomed to finding them grown in soil. Hydroponics is a growing method which employs water and melted nutrients. Hydro means water, ponos means labor. Basically, hydroponics thus implies "working water". There is a whole grocery aisle of positive results to hydroponics farming.

First, by cultivating in water the absorption of nutrients is speeded. The growth velocity of a soil plant is 30-50 percent slower than in a hydroponics plant grown under the same conditions. This makes for greater harvests (more!) over less time and requiring less space. Hydroponics systems deliver the needed sustenance right to the plant. Thus, roots do not spread as much as they do in soil. Scientists believe that the growth pace of hydroponically grown plants is more because the plants do not have to search in the soil for the nutrients it requires and this collected energy lets them grow quicker and produce more. Pretty awesome.

Martian omelet?

That's correct. For many years NASA has been finding means for space station astronauts and eventually planetary colonizers to grow their own food. It's a must as there is no low-cost and easy way for them to bring 3 years of food stuff with them. In space, where longer term life will have to be sustained as we go out further and further, Los Angeles hydroponics demonstrates to be the most efficient means to generate fresh foods. The weight of the cargoes that need to be taken with them outside Earth will be cut down significantly. And, since space is at a premium in outer space colonies, colonists will have to use more efficient agricultural techniques than those applied on Earth. Plants bred hydroponically are frequently bigger and healthier than plants grown naturally, even though hydroponics doesn't require soil and takes up less space than natural means. Also a cleaner method of growing plants than soil-based systems is hydroponics. It is also thought that dirty water created by the astronauts could be cleaned by recycling it via a plant system.

Enough with the nerdy stuff? What can they probably eat?

For as long as they possess the seeds and the space to plant, astronauts can definitely cultivate anything their tummies desire. Fruits. Herbs. Vegetables. Anything. So our astronauts' tummies will be kept satisfied with all the best food from Earth. All brought about by Los Angeles hydroponics.