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IPFS News Link • Space Travel and Exploration

Made FarmBot home-kit. Now advises NASA on farming

•, Kirsten Dirksen

It wasn't long before they were noticed by NASA engineers, interested in farm testing under the most extreme circumstances:

"The Kennedy Space Center got one of our very first units so they have it in one of their labs and what they're looking at is how can this type of technology be combined with a smart greenhouse and other environmental control systems to be able to grow food in space, on the moon, Mars and who knows where else NASA wants to go."

But extreme farming (as a possible "terraforming" beginning in other planets) isn't only a matter of interest to space agencies and companies such as SpaceX or Blue Origin, but a testing field for precision farming on Earth, especially when water and/or nutrients need to be rationed to their bare minimum necessary to maximize yield. Heatwave and drought conditions demand optimization of irrigation and/or pest control at a big scale. Interestingly, this adaptation of precision farming for changing conditions on Earth has arisen the interest of NASA. Also, technology developed for its use in space has also improved designs on Earth, from velcro to dustbusters, cochlear implants, and other spinoffs.