Vegetable Factory! Searching for an "Oasis" at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

Astronauts typically arrive at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in advance before departing for space to prepare for their upcoming spaceflight mission. According to China's space station construction plan, to better ensure the daily meals of astronauts and personnel involved in research and testing during their time at the launch site, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center completed this 725㎡ artificial light-type vegetable factory in March 2021. The green vegetables consumed by astronauts in the Tianhe Module are produced here.

Step into this vegetable factory, where a lush greenery greets you and rows of plant cultivation racks come into view. Here, vegetables can "drink" nutrient solutions tailored to their specific needs, "lie" on pristine white water beds, and enjoy optimal lighting. Currently, the main varieties cultivated in vegetable factories include lettuce, Chinese cabbage, ice plant, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, and more. Let's take a closer look!

Although the vegetable factory is not large in area, it embodies high-tech features everywhere. The factory is divided into cultivation areas, process auxiliary areas, power auxiliary areas, etc., mainly utilizing LED plant spectrum technology, nutrient solution cultivation technology, automated environmental control technology, and intelligent equipment to grow high-quality and high-yield vegetables in a purified facility.

Compared with traditional agricultural greenhouses, artificial light vegetable factories are refined and technology-driven agricultural production facilities. In vegetable factories, lighting, temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, and nutrient solutions can be intelligently and precisely controlled, ensuring that vegetables grow in optimal conditions.

The head of the vegetable factory sighed, saying that in the past, growing vegetables at the base was always a back-breaking job with one's face to the earth and back to the sky, whereas now it feels more like conducting scientific research in a laboratory when cultivating and producing various vegetables; the working environment and conditions are vastly different.

In vegetable factories, these diverse and green, pesticide-free vegetables take as little as 35 days from sowing to harvest. These fresh vegetables provide astronauts with healthy, green ingredients and greatly enrich the food baskets of aerospace technology workers.

In addition to vegetable factories, Luyuan is also a typical example of innovative development in agricultural and sideline production at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Built in 2008, covering an area of 10 mu, it is known as Dongfeng's "Little Jiangnan," with spring-like weather year-round, lush greenery, blooming flowers, and fragrant fruits and vegetables, flourishing in the harsh desert environment.

Green Garden consists of three parts: the observation hall, the seedling factory, and the Gobi Agriculture Joint Laboratory, integrating seedling cultivation with the promotion of new technologies and varieties. This oasis cultivates approximately 70 types and over 1.8 million seedlings annually, including peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, bitter melons, luffas, and other vegetables. The produced seedlings feature well-developed root systems, rapid growth rates, robustness, uniformity, and low disease incidence, fully meeting the planting requirements of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Come see if there is 'your dish' in Green Garden!

Source: China Manned Space Program, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center