A British chemist says 15 days locked in a sealed chamber with air-supplying wheat plants convinced him that humans eventually will be able to thrive on the moon or even Mars.
Nigel Packham, 34, was the experimental subject in the first NASA test of its kind with a self-sustaining system that recycles air.He emerged Tuesday from a 100-square-foot airtight room adjacent to another sealed room that held 30,000 wheat plants. For more than two weeks, the plants supplied abundant oxygen. Pack-ham, in turn, supplied carbon dioxide for the 10- to 12-inch plants.
When it was over, he reported feeling fine - if in dire need of a bath.
"It sure smells sweet out here, there's no doubt," said Packham, who entered the airtight, shower-less chamber July 24. "I'm doing fine, feeling great."
The space agency wanted to demonstrate that plants alone could provide breathable air for one person for 15 days.
The plants, growing in trays in a separate 126-square-foot sealed room, gathered energy from 64 high-intensity lamps. Water and nutrients were pumped in from outside the room. The oxygen produced was supplied to Packham's room.
As it turned out, the plants produced so much oxygen some had to be pumped out. Packham didn't provide quite enough carbon dioxide, so the plants drew some from outside.