BERLIN — Scientists in Antarctica have harvested their first crop of vegetables grown without earth, daylight or pesticides as part of a project designed to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other planets.
Researchers at Germany’s Neumayer Station III say they’ve picked 8 pounds of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes grown inside a high-tech greenhouse as temperatures outside dropped below minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit.
The German Aerospace Center DLR, which coordinates the project, said that by May scientists hope to harvest 9-11 pounds of fruit and vegetables a week.
While NASA has successfully grown greens on the International Space Station, DLR’s Daniel Schubert says the Antarctic project aims to produce a wider range of vegetables that might one day be grown on Mars or the Moon.
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