WHEN it comes to the future of Australian agriculture, the sky isn’t the limit ... it’s a lot further than that.
Think beyond Earth’s atmosphere and then up and past the moon, and right into the universe because that’s where today’s scientists are looking for answers that could hold the key to the survival of the human race.
The space environment presents scientists with unique challenges, forcing them to think outside the normal constraints of what is possible in order to devise practical solutions.
This lateral thinking often leads to new innovations being produced that are beneficial industries on Earth, as well.
NASA helped to develop biologically orientated LED technology to help plants grow indoors.
The initial premise was to figure out how long-duration spaceflight affected the human body.
Light sources and how they changed brain activity were studied with researchers finding blue light affected the way our body produced melatonin, the hormone critical to keeping astronauts’ biological clocks running on time.
The space station’s fluorescent lighting was replaced by LEDs and the benefit to growing plants was discovered as the lights provided the right wavelengths for photosynthesis.
LEDs also proved a game changer for terrestrial vertical farming as the lights can be programmed to deliver specific wavelengths for each crop and deliver prime growing conditions.
Vertical farming is a relatively new concept with studies worldwide finding it can produce a much higher yield than ‘flat earth’ farms.
According to the World Economic Forum, vertical farming is one of the fastest growing sectors within agriculture.
Another galactical finding came from the first Moon landing. NASA’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system was created for astronaut food in the early days of the Apollo programme.
The goal was to prevent an outbreak of food poisoning mid mission.
The system was adopted by food companies worldwide in a bid to deliver consistently safe, quality food to consumers.
The cross purposing of knowledge-based systems by scientists is called ‘tech transfer’ and it has the potential to catalyse dramatic changes to existing agricultural practices.Hunger affects nearly 10 percent of the global population and 40 percent of our plant species are heading towards extinction.
Constant, consistent research and innovation is needed if we are to thrive far into the future.
StarLab Oasis, an Abu Dhabi based agricultural research firm and a Voyager Space company is planning to use the space environment’s unique mix of microgravity, deep space radiation and launch vibrations as a tool to develop crop seeds with novel, beneficial traits.
Flow on effects from the space industry directly impact Australia’s environmental services, minerals, agriculture and maritime.
Investment in our space industry underpin technological development in some of Australia’s most important sectors.
While you probably can’t plan a vacation inside a bustling Earth colony inside a dome on Mars just yet, all signs show there’s just a few more generations to go before it’ll be the norm.