[SpaceProgram] You’ve been selected as Space Apps 2016 Top 25 People’s Choice: cress.space – a growing community

[David]

I'll do it if no one else wants to.

David Merchant



On 05/16/2016 09:30 AM, Michael P Weber II wrote:
> On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 3:05 AM, Michael Turner
> <michael.eugene.turner at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Whether intentional or not, the choice of watercress could be very
>> space-relevant.
>>
>> (1) Biosphere II saw the direct participation of the late Roy Walford, MD, a
>> pioneer self-experimenter in CRON (calorie restriction with optimal
>> nutrition) as a strategy for life extension. This research interested the
>> Biosphere II organizers because, in feeding long-duration space mission
>> participants, fewer calories eaten means, to a good first approximation,
>> less mass for the ecological life support system, leading to lower mission
>> cost, etc.
>>
>> (2) Research into how CRON appears to increase lifespans (in part by
>> reducing cancer risk -- a big issue in space travel because of space
>> radiation) reveals that it's more about protein restriction than about
>> calorie restriction per se.
>>
>> (3) Further research has suggested that it's specifically reduction of
>> methionine intake that is the main driver of life extension in CRON (hence,
>> presumably, lower cancer risk);
>>
>> (4) High-glycine diets sop up excess methionine. (To be sure: methionine is
>> an essential amino acid; glycine is not. But it seems that with methionine,
>> you can get too much of a good thing.)
>>
>> (5) Watercress is very high in glycine, quite low in methionine. Watercress
>> might be ideal for offsetting the cancer risks from space radiation in
>> long-duration space missions.
>>
>> I think a good next step in such work would be to try to optimize watercress
>> production in an aeroponic rather than a hydroponic style. Hydroponics is
>> great, highly productive, but ... water is heavy. Aeroponics can give you
>> much of the benefit of hydroponics but with a fraction of the equipment
>> mass. Aeroponics should be more adaptable to low-g and microgravity
>> environments since it's not gravity-dependent -- it's basically just the
>> deposition of nutrient-enriched mist droplets on plant roots. Aeroponics may
>> have gotten its start from NASA funding.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>> Michael Turner
>> Executive Director
>> Project Persephone
>> K-1 bldg 3F
>> 7-2-6 Nishishinjuku
>> Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160-0023
>> Tel: +81 (3) 6890-1140
>> Fax: +81 (3) 6890-1158
>> Mobile: +81 (90) 5203-8682
>> turner at projectpersephone.org
>> http://www.projectpersephone.org/
>>
>> "Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward
>> together in the same direction." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
>>
>> On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Michael Turner
>
> Michael,
>
> Are you going to take over the list then?
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