12 thoughts on “Space Asparagus”

  1. Cool, getting asparagus going on a meteorite is quite an accomplishment. My wife is going to want to know, what does he do to control the weeds?

  2. Presumably the seeds will be controlled to exclude weed seeds.

    The idea of growing plants off-Earth is a compelling one for many people. Periodically I will see Science Fair experiments or Solar System Ambassador displays which involve growing plants in regolith simulant. I hate having to be the one to tell them that it won’t work – the simulant is designed to mimic the mechanical properties of the Moon’s soil, not its compositional (i.e. mineralogical) properties. Maybe I’ll start seeing some meteorite growth experiments at the Science Fair.

    Moonwise, unfortunately, little has been done since Dr. Walkinshaw et al’s experiments back in the 1970s on the potential toxicity of regolith. I haven’t really looked into asteroidal soil experiments, but did put together some blog posts on the topic of Moon plants many years ago. (You can google ‘Of A Garden on the Moon’ to find it)

    Remember when Paragon SDC was going to put a mini-greenhouse on one of the GLXP competitors? (Odyssey Moon?)

    I’ve often said that when we head out into the Solar System we won’t just be taking ourselves, but also elements of Earth’s biosphere out into the void to bring life to where there isn’t any. In a sense, then, humanity is poised to become the seed mechanism for our biosphere to expand into the cosmos. It may be the reason we’re here…

    1. If all you have ever had is those dried out, woody, stringy, dried out sticks that get rehydrated into mushy, stringy strands of vegetable matter that smell vaguely like the men’s room and don’t taste like much of anything, I understand your question.

      If you have ever broken off a fresh, tender shoot from a garden of one of the new varieties and eaten it raw just then and there, the stuff just melts in your mouth. So if the wife wants you to bust your backside digging a trench in the spring to plant a row of asparagus, dude, just humor the lady and you and your gal will thank me for this advice.

      The deal with asparagus is it is one of the few perenials, a grass in fact, that you can eat straight out of the ground and it can taste pretty good, actually. Once it gets established, which is a comparable challenge to getting a new lawn going, you don’t have to plow the ground and replant it every year. For something you eat, cool, huh?

      The deal is that for some reason, chicks dig asparagus, or at least the one you end up marrying does. If you can get her a row of asparagus going, you are Luther Burbank, Norman Borlaug, her late Grandpa Henry, and Superman to your lady.

      Getting it established is quite the challenge, that is why the joke of “how do you control the weeds”, but getting it established on a meteorite, well, hats off to that fellow.

        1. We have been planting the “Jersey” variants. Jung Catalog has “Jersey Supreme”, but not sure that is it because we have gotten our stock from a local store.

    2. 5 powerful health benefits of asparagus you probably didn’t know

      “1.It’s loaded with nutrients: Asparagus is a very good source of fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E and K, as well as chromium, a trace mineral that enhances the ability of insulin to transport glucose from the bloodstream into cells.
      2.This herbaceous plant—along with avocado, kale and Brussels sprouts—is a particularly rich source of glutathione, a detoxifying compound that helps break down carcinogens and other harmful compounds like free radicals. This is why eating asparagus may help protect against and fight certain forms of cancer, such as bone, breast, colon, larynx and lung cancers.
      3.Asparagus is packed with antioxidants, ranking among the top fruits and vegetables for its ability to neutralize cell-damaging free radicals. This, according to preliminary research, may help slow the aging process.

      Related: The 3 Colors You Really Need to Eat More Of
      4.Another anti-aging property of this delicious spring veggie is that it may help our brains fight cognitive decline. Like leafy greens, asparagus delivers folate, which works with vitamin B12—found in fish, poultry, meat and dairy—to help prevent cognitive impairment. In a study from Tufts University, older adults with healthy levels of folate and B12 performed better on a test of response speed and mental flexibility. (If you’re 50-plus, be sure you’re getting enough B12: your ability to absorb it decreases with age.)
      5.One more benefit of asparagus: It contains high levels of the amino acid asparagine, which serves as a natural diuretic, and increased urination not only releases fluid but helps rid the body of excess salts. This is especially beneficial for people who suffer from edema (an accumulation of fluids in the body’s tissues) and those who have high blood pressure or other heart-related diseases. ”

      I really like it …

      1. “as well as chromium, a trace mineral that enhances the ability of insulin to transport glucose from the bloodstream into cells”

        Interesting. I remember when I was doing my review of ‘Lunar Base Agriculture’ (at: http://www.outofthecradle.net/archives/2008/04/of-a-garden-on-the-moon-part-ii/), one of the concerns that the scientists had was the (relative) abundance of Chromium in lunar regolith as compared with terrestrial soils, which they felt might be not good for plant growth. Pretty much all of the authors noted that using regolith simulant wasn’t adequate because of the abundance of trace elements in the real regolith from SWIEs. vapor distribution of meteoroid impacts, pummeling and tossing around of the stuff on the surface, and so on.

        What’s most interesting to me is that once we do get astro-agriculture going, the differing space environments will create new terroirs for new flavors and zest. Sabor luna! Ceres-certified vacu-fresh asparagus. Arean icewines. Martian magic mushrooms. So many possibilities!

  5. I don’t know that the asparagus research is all that useful absent ISS experiments on making Hollandaise sauce in zero-G conditions which could affect how the emulsion forms.

  6. The problem of growing crops in sterile regolith is an interesting one, which will probably have to be addressed if and when the space habitats start to be built. It is undoubtedly possible, because plants grow (eventually!) on volcanic ash which starts out just as sterile as asteroidal minerals or Moon rock. (The soil on Mars is actually germicidal, which is yet another problem.)

    I can’t think of a much better way of speeding up the process than the one suggested in the Heinlein oldie but goodie “Farmer in the Sky” which involves mixing regolith and crushed volcanic boulders with a culture of useful soil organisms and letting the latter spread through the mixture.

    We’ll have to be careful about toxic minerals in the rocks we are using, though. It’s quite possible that some of the asteroids that would otherwise be ideal as raw material for habitat soil are unusable for this purpose because they happen to have large amounts of arsenic or lead in them.

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