宇航員們不僅可以吃到星星，還能吃到新鮮的食物

美國宇航局研究稱，在太空中種植的紅萵苣“安全”美味

Now astronauts can have the stars — and fresh food, too.

現(xiàn)在宇航員們不僅可以吃到星星，還能吃到新鮮的食物了。

It is not only possible to grow lettuce in outer space, but also safe to eat it, according to a new study published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

上周五發(fā)表在《植物科學(xué)前沿》(Frontiers in Plant Science)雜志上的一項新研究表明，在外太空不僅可以種植萵苣，而且可以安全食用。

The red romaine lettuce — grown aboard the International Space Station between 2014 and 2016 — is a giant leap for mankind, as it means astronauts can venture farther into the galaxies and have more nutrients while they work.

2014年至2016年間在國際空間站上種植的紅色萵苣，對人類來說是一個巨大的飛躍，因為這意味著宇航員可以在工作的同時能深入星系，并獲得更多的營養(yǎng)。

“The ability to grow food in a sustainable system that is safe for crew consumption will become critical as NASA moves toward longer missions,” Christina Khodadad, a Kennedy Space Center researcher and author of the study, says in a statement. “Salad-type, leafy greens can be grown and consumed fresh with few resources.”

肯尼迪航天中心研究員、該項研究的作者克里斯蒂娜·霍達德在一份聲明中說：“隨著美國宇航局向更長的任務(wù)邁進，在一個可持續(xù)的系統(tǒng)中種植食物以供宇航員食用的能力將變得至關(guān)重要。”。“沙拉類的綠葉蔬菜可以用很少的資源種植和新鮮食用。”

The lettuce, of a variety called Outredgeous, was grown over the course of roughly one to two months in a space crop-growing system using surface-sterilized seeds. The space lettuce, the study reports, was similar in composition to its Earth-grown counterpart, and in fact tended toward being more vitamin rich.

這種被稱為Outredgeous的萵苣，在太空作物生長系統(tǒng)中由表面消毒的種子經(jīng)過大約一到兩個月的時間生長過程。研究報告稱，太空萵苣的成分與地球上生長的萵苣相似，而且事實上更富含維生素。

Not only is it healthy and edible, but Outredgeous is also quite tasty, astronauts report. “I like that,” says astronaut Kjell Lindgren in a 2015 teaser video where he and fellow astronauts first sample space lettuce. Lindgren compares its taste to arugula.

宇航員報告說，它不僅健康、可食用，而且美味可口。“我喜歡!”宇航員克杰爾·林格倫在2015年的一段預(yù)告片中說。他和其他宇航員第一次品嘗太空萵苣，林格倫把它的味道比作芝麻菜。

“The International Space Station is serving as a test bed for future long-duration missions, and these types of crop growth tests are helping to expand the suite of candidates that can be effectively grown in microgravity,” says study co-author Gioia Massa of NASA. “Future tests will study other types of leafy crops as well as small fruits like peppers and tomatoes, to help provide supplemental fresh produce for the astronaut diet.”

“國際空間站是未來長期任務(wù)的試驗臺，這些類型的作物生長測試，有助于擴大在微重力環(huán)境下有效生長的候選品種。”研究報告的合著者、美國宇航局的焦亞·馬薩(Gioia Massa)說，“未來的試驗將研究其他類型的多葉作物，以及像辣椒和西紅柿這樣的小水果，以幫助為宇航員提供補充的新鮮農(nóng)產(chǎn)品。”