1
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,948
Antarctica. It is the world’s coldest continent.

2
00:00:10,948 --> 00:00:16,966
Scattered among the ice in this harsh and unforgiving environment are numerous research stations.

3
00:00:18,846 --> 00:00:25,492
One of these is the Neumayer III Station, situated on the Ekstrom Ice Shelf

4
00:00:25,492 --> 00:00:31,525
and operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, which coordinates German polar research efforts.

5
00:00:31,525 --> 00:00:38,427
Nearby Neumayer III is a small greenhouse, the German Aerospace Center’s EDEN ISS,

6
00:00:38,427 --> 00:00:44,875
which is working on developing innovations for cultivating food using closed-loop systems.

7
00:00:44,875 --> 00:00:53,066
In a space about the size of an apartment bedroom, this greenhouse recently grew more than 600 pounds of fresh food

8
00:00:53,066 --> 00:01:01,081
– including cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes – in a 9.5-month period, even with outside temperatures well below freezing.

9
00:01:01,081 --> 00:01:12,495
The researchers took scientific samples from their crops, but they ate the vast majority of what they grew in a powerful demonstration of the benefits of closed loop agriculture.

10
00:01:12,495 --> 00:01:20,177
This research not only benefits indoor agriculture here on Earth, it also has applications for space exploration.

11
00:01:20,177 --> 00:01:25,726
For more than 20 years, people have continuously occupied the International Space Station,

12
00:01:25,726 --> 00:01:37,075
a laboratory about the size of a six-bedroom house that orbits the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of approximately 250 miles.

13
00:01:37,075 --> 00:01:44,558
Astronauts working with researchers on the ground have used the space station as a proving ground for the technologies and know-how

14
00:01:44,558 --> 00:01:54,522
that will allow people to explore more of the Moon than ever before and take the next step in space exploration, a crewed mission to Mars.

15
00:01:54,522 --> 00:02:01,921
Jess Bunchek is a plant scientist from Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s leading center for growing plants in space.

16
00:02:01,921 --> 00:02:12,364
The agency is sending her to work with the German Aerospace Center on research that could one day help feed crews on long duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

17
00:02:12,364 --> 00:02:21,884
Bunchek brings important experience to EDEN ISS: knowledge gained from working with astronauts growing salad crops in space.

18
00:02:21,884 --> 00:02:27,505
After a month-long voyage from Germany, Bunchek will spend about a year in Antarctica.