Astronauts use Lighting Technology to grow potatoes in space!

Well martian was not a myth after all,  as NASA have announced their latest technology which uses LED Lighting to enable the growth of vegtables in space.  Martian for those who don't know is a film stared by actor matt damon which describes a mans struggle for survival in space.

Matt demon's quest for survival in martian 

Under those harsh natural circumstances an astronaut named Mark Watney (matt damon's character)  created a way in which he can reproduce potatoes. He achieved this by cutting them down to smaller sizes and then increasing the temperature in his survival pod to ensure the right environment is available for growth. The release of the film was prior to the unveiling of water being found in mars,  so he also had to create water to ensure the irrigation of the potatoes.  

survival of the fittest. Matt demon working on his crop in new film Martian

Planet earth is blessed with large amount of water for irrigating the plants and a huge supply of sunlight for keeping the plant healthy. In contrast space doesn't posses great amount of this, meaning most plants will need to be grown indoors. Step up the latest LED grow light system technology from NASA called the veggie developed by orbital technologies. It assist scientist to grow plantation in zero gravity conditions.
This lighting system emits a purple and almost magenta coloured beam that is necessary in stimulating the growth of the plant.  Although the only colours required to grow plants are Red and Blue, green was thrown into the mix in order to neutralise the purple light and make the plant look more edible.

DR Rey Wheeler, leader of advanced life support activities from the Exploration Research and Technology program in Kennedy said " they are probably the most efficient in terms of electrical power conversion. The green LEDs help to enhance the human visual perception of the plants, but they don't put out as much light as the red and blues" 

    

would you like some lettuce from space?- researchers investigating the growth of plantation in space  

 However if humans were to live in space growing food is not the only problem. Mars averages -80C° and that is well below freezing point making mars very difficult to live in, but even to say the necessary insulation is equipped on the planet, people will still need to eat and growing some vegetables won't be enough to create a inhabitable environment for humans. Oxygen and water are also necessities which need to be used resourcefully in space. the lack of water means irrigation of plants has to preciece and calculated. NASA funded research for bioserve space technologies, a non profit research centre situated at the university of colorado in order to look at the the connection between the amount of water and leaf rigidity. They found on earth were water is in high supply traditional irrigation gives leaves more water then they actually need . This hypothesis then was further developed by AgriHouse brands as they created sensors to be installed on leaves that determine the amount of water that particular leaf requires.  

The wonders of intelligence and handwork is highlighted beutifully on martian as matt demon has to be both resourcefull and patient in order to survive. Thats enough of me giving the plot away but it goes to show what the human is capable off if his back is against the wall and with further developments technology space does not seem to far away.  

This blog post was adapted from LEDinside "How Astronauts Might be Able to Grow Martian Potatoes with NASA Lighting Technology" 08/06/2015

Top 5 Trends of Retail Lighting

5 reasons why Retail Lighting is becoming trendy 

Energy efficient LED Retrofits 

Retail was amongst the first industries to embrace LED Lighting, due to the great amount of energy saved compared to energy consuming halogens. Big influential retails are announcing their investment to new LED products almost daily, companies such as : Sainsbury's, Tesco, Next and Walmart are all choosing LED as their pereferd Lighting technology. Although, generally speaking the amount that has switched to LEDs are a minority and are mainly companies who have good resources and economical strength. This however has not deterred the growth of LEDs as its becoming more affordable, it will  only be a matter of time when LEDs are everywhere. 

Bringing Light to your Brand 

With the surge of online shopping, high-street shops are required to create an environment which not only enhances their brand but is also consumer friendly. This has made lighting more important and specific in distinguishing  yourself amongst competitors. This trend is increasingly becoming essential to the overall brand image of a retailer.

Colourful Technology 

Colour has always been important in retail shopping, it express the personality of the shop. Halogens have always set the benchmark for the quality of light. Furthermore some believe LEDs compromise this and the light the given by LEDs are too bright and halogens have always set the benchmark for the quality of light . This can be true if you go with a cheap low quality LED Light getting manufactured somewhere in China but overall with the LED technology available now, those people are currently chocking on their words. LEDs have not only become more  energy efficient they are also out performing halogen in terms of the quality of light. For instances the new Philips GU10 has a CRI rating of 90 which basically means it outputs an extremely crisp HD light.

Quality Driven 

Their has been many examples of cheap LEDs being bought by retail shops and subsequently causing them many problems. instead of thinking about the quality of the lightbulb they consider saving money purchase a second hand cheap LED and end up with their shop looking dim and their clothes looking like something from the dressing room of a horror film. However those days are coming to an end as that small proportion of the LED market is being tamed. 

Lights have new purpose 

How would feel if light has the ability to guide you around the shop and send you offers while your looking at an item of interest?. Well now it has been made possible,  all thanks to the highly adavanced super accurate positioning systems powered by LED Lights. This systems influences light in way which is not visible to the human eye but can be picked up the camera on your phone!. The light carries specific coding which the phone uses to locate its exact position. Lighting company EldoLED have created an award winning positioning system and have already installed it in several US retail shops. Philips are currently investigating their own Positioning system in a Netherlands museum.

All in all their is some way to go until LEDs truly take over the retail lighting industry. However recent development of innovating LED technology might give brick-and-mortar retailers have hope in a digital dominated industry.