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From: sailor.barsoom

> I'm not sure that's a fair comparison. Importing food to
> Antarctica is pretty inexpensive (especially considering that
> the researchers are rotated in and out already, so just put
> food on the same ships). Importing food to Space is pretty
> costly. Then again, it would be pretty cool. ^_~

Oh, no, I don't disagree at all that growing your own food is far more vital for space than for Antarctica. I was just trying to come up with an Earthly situation where there might be an economic incentive to implement this concept.

There are certain things we plan to do in space that we cannot do at all here on Earth, and on those things we just sort of have to take it on faith. One example would be solar furnaces with mirrors a couple of miles across made out of aluminized Mylar and coat-hanger wire. But there are some things we can do here on Earth, and I'd prefer to see the Earthbound demonstration before counting on it in space. I think large-scale agriculture under artificial illumination falls into this category. But I must allow that there may be no economic incentive for pursuing such a thing anyplace here on Earth with possibly only the exception of Antarctica.

Regards,

Mike Combs