RCIScience/RASC Lecture: How Will We Eat on Mars? An Update on Life Support Research at the University of Guelph

If humans hope to ever get to Mars or farther, we will need to be able to grow food in space. The space travel environment produces unique challenges to growing food, including microgravity, limited water, artificial light sources and many more. Research at the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility at the University of Guelph is showing us how to grow food in space and, in the process, is developing beneficial technologies for earth-bound farming.

Dr. Mike Dixon is the Director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility and program, and Chair of the Environmental Biology Department, University of Guelph. Dr. Dixon joined the University in 1985 as an NSERC fellow after earning his PhD from Edinburgh University in Scotland and is now a full professor.

Off campus he is the Technology Exchange Coordinator for the International Advanced Life Support Working Group (IALSWG) which is a strategic planning group offering information and personnel exchange between international space agencies such as NASA, CSA, ESA, RSA and JAXA (Japan). He also is Chair of the Space Exploration Advisory Committee of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and is a member of the Life Sciences and Technical Committee within the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

As project leader for the Canadian research team investigating the contributions of plants to life support in space, Dr. Dixon formed the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture (SALSA) program at the University of Guelph. This program currently represents Canada’s prime contribution to the International Space program objectives in Life Support.

Dr. Dixon is also the project leader for the research team at Guelph investigating the biofiltration of indoor air as a method of alleviating what is commonly known as “sick building syndrome.”

This talk is co-sponsored by the RASC — Mississauga Centre.

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Registration: Not required
Organized by: The Royal Canadian Institute for Science and RASC - Mississauga Centre
Location: Noel Ryan Auditorium, Ground Floor, Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road W. Parking under the library is free after 6 p.m. Enter via the ramp accessed from the southbound lane on Duke of York Boulevard between City Centre Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road.

http://rciscience.ca/event/growing-food-in-space/?instance_id=483
http://earthshineastronomy.ca/events/2017/3/2/royal-canadian-institute-meeting-on-thursday-march-2