What to do if space travel is delayed and you don’t have enough food?

China's space station has officially started construction, commercial spaceflight is in full swing, and people are flying into space more and more frequently. Just like 20 years ago, people couldn't imagine smartphones, the speed of technological development often exceeds expectations. Maybe 30 years later, ordinary people can travel in space as easily and conveniently as flying on an airplane. However, we can't expect everything to be good. Even daily airplanes are bound to be delayed. In the more mysterious space, it is inevitable that there will be some accidents when riding on a spacecraft. It is important to make plans.

Schematic diagram of China's space station (Photo credit: China Manned Spaceflight Office)

Imagine that you have arrived at a destination in space, and are wearing space suits to experience the vacuum, or are admiring the vastness of the stars from the window of a spacecraft on the way, but you suddenly encounter a space "storm" (space weather forecasts are even more unreliable than on Earth), and you are unable to act on time, and the food you brought with you when you set out is almost gone. What should you do? In other words, you are stranded somewhere in space due to special circumstances. How can you get supplies?

Many people must have blurted out: "Grow potatoes!"

Yes, science fiction works have demonstrated many situations to us, which can be divided into two categories.

First, planting and breeding in space capsules. In recent years, Chinese spacecraft have carried seeds of Earth crops into space many times. Researchers have carried out various experiments with the help of the special environment of space. Thanks to China's "love to grow vegetables gene" as a major agricultural country, China has finally built a reusable regenerative life support system, which means that vegetables can be repeatedly planted in space capsules.

In the future, space tourists will be able to eat fresh green leafy vegetables in addition to food products that do not affect human health and equipment safety. Astronauts on the International Space Station have already tasted space chili tortillas. As the space capsule planting business reaches new heights and more and more plants are harvested, it is not a fantasy to raise small fat sheep in the space capsule. Everyone may have an unexpected treat in space.

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

Space chili tacos made by astronauts (Photo source: NASA official website)

Second, planting and breeding on alien planets. Chinese and foreign scientific research teams have successfully cultivated plants using lunar soil. As space power generation projects provide more and more energy, and considering the progress of chemistry and biotechnology on Earth, we may be very close to cultivating potatoes and other crops in large quantities using lunar soil.

Astronomers have been working to find sources of water, soil and oxygen on nearby planets. After all, water and oxygen are important basic substances for the existence of life on Earth. The research team has discovered active compounds in the lunar soil, which are expected to help synthesize oxygen and fuels such as hydrogen, methane, and methanol. Perhaps in the near future, using materials from other planets and adding "secret recipes", Earthlings can really learn from "astronaut Mark Watney" and develop a suitable environment in space travel destinations such as Mars to grow fast-growing plants. Improve the quality of life. If local construction conditions allow, it is also possible to raise animals.

Are these ideas amazing? In fact, the people on Earth who do this are all "hardworking and honest people." Today, there is no shortage of food service areas near airports and highways. In the future, 24-hour convenience stores may be opened during space travel. Supplies are regularly replenished by spacecraft, and the inventory is enough for space tourists to consume for a long time.

If the inventory is limited, space tourists can send a signal to the Earth or a nearby space city for help. I believe that by then, China's reusable cargo spacecraft, which has been developed and mature, will deliver supplies as soon as possible. This should be the most reliable way, after all, space tourists may not all be vegetable growers.

As the reusability of cargo spacecraft continues to improve, China's overall benefits in transporting space supplies will be further enhanced, and enjoying hot pot, barbecue, and crayfish on the space station will no longer be a distant dream.