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NASA Technology Improves Life on Earth
To boldly go and solve challenging problems.
One of the best parts of the Air and Space Museum on Washington DC’s Capitol Mall has nothing to do with flight.
Yet it will make you feel like an astronaut for a few minutes. I refer to the freeze-dried ready-to-eat ice cream sold in the museum shop.
The irony is that the space agency does not use freeze-dried ice cream in space because there is no bread up there. Crumbs cause trouble — astronauts eat natural ice cream.
The National Air and Space Administration, or NASA, has other technology that amazes Earth customers.
NASA’s Vertical Farm
With billions more to feed coming soon, NASA serves as a backup for conventional agriculture.
NASA built the nation’s first vertical farm, conceiving the playbook for controlled environment agriculture, or CEA.
They combine plant science and sophisticated environmental control methods; their technique takes plant growth into an enclosed area and optimizes that relationship.
It’s different from the greenhouse we have all seen.
NASA deploys cutting edge tools to filter water, deliver exact nutrients, and calibrate lighting from…