• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Jennifer Marohasy

Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Speaker
  • Blog
  • Temperatures
  • Coral Reefs
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

Whitey On The Moon – Again

December 11, 2005 By jennifer

BY ROGER KALLA
…NOT ON ENVIRONMENT

Man is to step on the Moon again a decade from now in preparation for the huge leap to Mars. This has been seen by some as another reflection of the hubris of the Bush administration seriously out of touch with the pressing global threats facing our planet and humankind. However, Australian agriculture and environment stand to make some gains from spin-offs from this space exploration program.

The announcement made by President Bush in 2004 that the USA aims to reinvigorate its stalled space exploration program has been met by mixed responses and even seen by some as a prime example of technology escapism.

In order to supply a crew for the 7 month minimum return trip to Mars with oxygen, water and medicines, a very efficient closed loop food production and waste management recycling system would be required. Some alternatives are being explored in the Advanced Life Support program of the NASA Specialized Center of Research and Training at Purdue University in preparation for the mission to Mars.

Food production technologies that could come in handy for the intrepid space travellers are already here and now. Milk can be produced by bovine mammary glands grown in culture, meat by sheets of animal muscle tissue grown in dishes , essential oils like omega 3 polyunsaturated fats from genetically modified canola, orange juice from juice sacs grown in bioreactors, and edible vaccines against influenza or any other nasty bug from hydroponically grown tomatoes.

But perhaps the solution is to think about agriculture inside the square or vat. In the not to distant future we might need not only food manufacturing factories but food producing factories that are based on animal and plant cells as the smallest production unit rather than multicellular organisms like chickens, oranges, tomatoes or fish.

The spin offs from NASA’s second space exploration program will no doubt surpass innovations such as the personal computer, mobile phone and microwave oven that were developed to fulfil some of the requirements of the first NASA program. This time around the unintended spin offs might deliver new technologies for sustainable production of high value foods and medicines not requiring us to mine our ‘golden soils’ to receive our ‘wealth for toil’.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Biotechnology

Primary Sidebar

Latest

Complicating the IPCC Planck Feedback, Plank #4 of Climate Resilience Theory

June 1, 2025

The Moon’s Tidal Push

May 30, 2025

How Climate Works. In Discussion with Philip Mulholland about Carbon Isotopes

May 14, 2025

In future, I will be More at Substack

May 11, 2025

How Climate Works: Upwellings in the Eastern Pacific and Natural Ocean Warming

May 4, 2025

Recent Comments

  • Dr Phillip Chalmers on Complicating the IPCC Planck Feedback, Plank #4 of Climate Resilience Theory
  • Don Gaddes on The Moon’s Tidal Push
  • ironicman on The Moon’s Tidal Push
  • cohenite on The Moon’s Tidal Push
  • Don Gaddes on The Moon’s Tidal Push

Subscribe For News Updates

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

PayPal

December 2005
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Nov   Jan »

Archives

Footer

About Me

Jennifer Marohasy Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method. Read more

Subscribe For News Updates

Subscribe Me

PayPal

Contact Me

To get in touch with Jennifer call 0418873222 or international call +61418873222.

Email: J.Marohasy@climatelab.com.au

Connect With Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis - Jen Marohasy Custom On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in