A steady supply of food is vital to the survival of the settlement. Luckily test cases showcasing the technology
to grow food in Antarctica already exist. It should be obvious that any farming would have to be done inside using UV grow lights and maximizing the use of space. Below are the details of how to go about farming a land dead for an eon. Power Source This topic will be dealt with more in its own research article but sufficed to say a combination of solar, wind, and miscellaneous other power sources will be needed to supply the heat and light needed to keep food production viable. Techniques There are a few different ways to go about farming in Antarctica. The first, aquaponics, is to be dismissed for two reasons: 1. It requires tools and chemicals being imported fairly regularly and, 2. Water is much harder to heat than air or soil. As such aquaponics presents additional challenges for farming. And, indeed, the test cases mentioned before don't use hydroponics, instead opting for plants in soil with grow lights. So assuming you are using grow lights there is another choice to be made: do you let the plants grow to maturity or do you harvest the plants after a week or two as microgreens? Microgreens are wasteful from a resource standpoint but are quick, which is useful (generally two weeks to grow). Depending on the plant it might be more advantageous to harvest them as microgreens rather than let them grow to full size. This depends on the plant's likely output, the size of the seeds, and the food needs of the settlement at a given time. Potential Crops Not all crops are created equal. For lettuce, cabbage, and beets pretty much the entire plant is edible. While pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes have only a small proportion of the plant that is edible. Most plants fall into a middle area between these two extremes. The other consideration is whether a plant needs insects for pollination. In theory, bees could be kept in Antarctica for their honey but it is good to know what plants can get by without them. Crops infographic: [1] Space How much space needs to be set apart for farming? This question leads into another one about the amount of construction materials needed. To figure this out let's do some math. Calculations estimate that 4000ft2 is needed to feed one person which is a space of a little over 63x63ft. This is a lot but its also where efficient use of space comes in. Using grow lights a room with a standard 8ft high ceiling can have three tiers. This would roughly be a 36x36ft room. Or put another way, about the size of a small house. So lets calculate how much space would be needed for a small population of 100: 4000x100=400,000ft2. This is roughly 632x632ft. Or 365x365ft with a three-tiered set up. The map linked here details how much of the Cape Adare site this would actually cover: [2] Livestock? Raising livestock is possible but as they require their own food to be raised it is useful to start with the space calculations and go from there. In terms of which animals should be raised there is an obvious answer; sheep. Sheep have a bit more to offer than other livestock. While they do provide meat, more importantly they also provide wool. Wool is a great insulator and is unappreciated in this role when it comes to housing. Raising sheep removes another material that would have to be imported. Sheep eat roughly half of what humans do by weight. This could also be an answer to the problem of food wastage as sheep can eat the parts of plants humans find unpalatable. I'm sure someone is wondering at this point why I haven't suggested eating penguins, seals, and skuas. The answer is two-fold; 1. the diet of these animals is primarily fish which imparts a not-completely-desirable taste to the meat and, 2. The settlement will face enough international outrage without stories of the people killing penguins added to the mix. Both points are potentially possible to overcome but would take time and this website is for plans that can be made before any landing on the continent is made. That said, founding a settlement near a penguin rookery is pragmatic in order to have an emergency food supply near by in case of a serious disaster (and because they are entertaining to watch). In conclusion the technology and know-how to grow food in Antarctica exists and procuring a steady food supply is not a hindrance to future settlement.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Published ResearchAs the project develops and gaps in understanding are filled finalized plans will be posted here. The end goal being a comprehensive plan for settling Antarctica. All plans subject to update as new information is learned. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|