科学家在南极种蔬菜

In a step thats getting human beings closer to off-world farming， scientists on Germanys Neumayer Station III in Antarctica harvested a big crop of vegetables， like salad greens， cucumbers and radishes.

The crops， grown in a lab called EDEN-ISS， were produced without dirt， pesticides or daylight， according to the team.

The researchers employed a reusable water cycle and a nutrient system， while optimizing LED lighting and carefully monitoring carbon dioxide in the room—based on a method known as hydroponics.

“After sowing the seeds in mid-February， 2018， I had to deal with some unexpected problems， such as minor system failures and the strongest storm in more than a year，” said Paul Zabel， an engineer involved with the project. “Fortunately， all these things could be fixed and overcome.”

This isnt the first time researchers have attempted something like this， with the ISS growing space vegetables already back in 2015.

But this project is focused on producing a wider mix， such as radishes， salad greens， tomatoes， cucumbers， peppers （capsicum） and even herbs.

With temperatures outside dropping below -20 degrees Celsius， its pretty amazing that the researchers are producing a wide range of fruits and vegetables.

“诺伊迈尔三号站”是德国在南极洲开设的科学考察站。科学家在那里收获了一大批蔬菜，比如生菜、黄瓜和萝卜。人类离太空农业又近了一步。

该团队表示，这些农作物是在“EDEN-ISS”实验室里种出来的，在种植过程中没有使用土壤和农药，也没有日照。

研究人员根据“水培法”，采用可重复利用的水循环系统和营养物系统，同时充分利用LED照明，并仔细监测室内的二氧化碳浓度。

“2018年2月中旬播下种子之后，我得处理一些意料之外的问题，比如：处理系统出现的小故障和应对一年多以来出现的最强烈的暴风雪。”参与该项目的工程师保罗·扎贝尔说，“但幸运的是，所有的问题都是可以解决和克服的。”

研究人员并非首次进行这类研究。早在2015年，国际空间站就曾种出太空蔬菜。

但是这个项目旨在种出更多种类的蔬菜，包括萝卜、生菜、番茄、黄瓜、辣椒，甚至草本植物。

在室外温度低于-20℃的情况下，研究人员能够种出种类丰富的水果和蔬菜，实在是不可思议。

Word Study

harvest /'hɑ?v?st/ v. 收获；收割

Rice farmers here still plant and harvest their crops by hand.

optimize /'?pt?ma?z/ v. 使最優化；充分利用

They need to optimize the use of available resources.

minor /'ma?n?（r）/ adj. 较小的；轻微的