种植太空蔬菜.doc

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种植太空蔬菜
Growing a vegetable garden isn't so difficult, on earth. But a space garden …well,
that's another story. Still, as Sheri Quinn reports, plants will likely be an
important part of future space missions, not only to sustain the travelers' bodies,
but their souls, as well.
Plants are a vital part of the earth's eco-system, and they're just as crucial in the artificial environment of an orbiting space station. As on earth, they provide food, and offer a sense of tranquility.
Scientists from the . space agency NASAand Utah State University are working with Russian colleagues to figure out how to grow edible plants in space, and understand their psychological value to space explorers. Bruce Bugbee is a professor of plant physiology at Utah State. His lab helps test so-called space gardens.
"We now are trying to quantify, how important are they?" he explains, adding that he is not just talking about providing fresh greens for the crew's diet. "Are there people that just don't need plants around and if there are, are those the kind of people we want to be flying? Are those the most mentally stable people or are the most mentally stable people the ones that like plants and like interacting with plants?"
In fact, since 2002 the International Space Station has had a small greenhouse garden, called Lad