Beautiful new images of space settlement Kalpana One

LED grow lights have been used on the space station. They generate light in two wavelengths, 455 to 470 nm (blue) and 630 to 660 nm (red), which are the wavelengths chlorophyll absorbs and the plant uses for growth. The rest of the solar spectrum is pretty much ignored (reflected). This makes these grow lights about four times more efficient than HID lighting. On the other hand, for humans, these would probably not be optimal. We'd need a nice spectral spread to be happy. We like full sun...(ok, not FULL sun. That would be four times as intense as we get at earth surface,ie, 350 watts/m^2 vs 1350 in orbit).
Gary 7

Seriously? I had no idea LED lights could achieve such efficiency.

> Looks awesome, but what is the source of light in the centre?

Bryan has departed a bit from the design in the paper when it comes to
lighting (and internal decks). It looks to me like he's got sunlight
from the outside focused onto a diffuser that runs along the axis of the
cylinder. Or, perhaps it's artificial light. That's increasingly
practical these days, with the efficiency of LED lighting.

Best,
- Joe

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