I am looking for a fair comparison between hydroponic and soil cultures for a settlement on the Moon or Mars. Hydroponic seems efficient and appropriate, but it might be more diffficult to recycle organic wastes, which is a key issue to achieve autonomy.
Dr. Salotti:
I refer you to a colleague who worked on aspects of composting and bioreactor systems to recycle or utilize inedible materials. Here is his email Jay Garland ([email protected]). Good luck with your research.
Just a point of clarification -- when you refer to 'soil' do you mean the Earth-based definition (a complex mix of inorganic, organic and biological components) or are you simply referring (as some people (incorrectly) do) to a growth substrate (e.g., LECA, Mars regolith even!) primarily used for mechanical support of the plant and potentially some cation exchange capacity (Hydroculture/hydroponic growth substrate)? Regardless, in a life-support context the management of inedible biomass (as Charles points out via Dr. Garland's work) would be largely separate from the production system (composting, bioreactors, vermiculture (some folks in the Netherlands currently looking at this), P/C-systems etc). There are numerous technologies that can be deployed to release the nutrients back to the fertigation solution. Have you had a look at any of the data/reports coming out of ESA's MELiSSA project? You should also reach out to Dr. Raymond Wheeler (NASA Kennedy Space Center) as he is one of the leading authorities in this field.
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Melissa
Sorry -- I guess this isn't really an answer, just a comment.
Best,
Thomas
Thank you. By soil, I meant the first definition. Now it's clear to me that there are many options to recycle the wastes. The most important statement of your message is "the management if inedible biomass would be largely separate from the production system." Well, in future extraterrestrial colonies, there will be many constraints such as limited power, limited human resources, no hardware store around the corner, small nitrogen production, etc. So, one way or the other, the choice for the production system is linked with the choice for recycling.
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