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ANTARCTICA: Cold Veggies

Scientists in Antarctica have harvested their first crop of vegetables grown without soil, daylight or pesticides as part of a project designed to help astronauts cultivate fresh food
on other planets.

Researchers at Germany’s Neumayer Station III say they’ve picked 3.6 kilograms of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes grown inside a high-tech greenhouse as temperatures outside dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The German Aerospace Center DLR, which coordinates the project, said scientists hope to harvest 4 to 5 kilograms of fruit and vegetables a week.

While NASA has successfully grown greens on the International Space Station, DLR’s Daniel Schubert said the Antarctic project aims to produce a wider range of vegetables that might one day be grown on Mars or the moon. The Associated Press

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