Lunar Lasers and Cosmic Crops: NASA Funds UA Space Exploration Missions
NASA funding will support UA teams working on ways to harvest water and produce crops in space.
Illustration of power, lighting and roving concepts operating in a lunar crater. (Photo courtesy of NASA)
Many things change for astronauts when they leave Earth and head into space, but at least one remains the same: They need food and water. NASA recently awarded funding to two University of Arizona teams to search for water and grow food in space.
Led by researchers in the College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the missions focus on harvesting water from the lunar surface and improving techniques for microgravity crop production. The grants are a testament to a statement by NASA official Jim Bridenstine that the University of Arizona is a world leader in training space engineers and scientists.