The team received a $20,000 National Space Grant from the Exploration Systems and Habitations (X-Hab) to augment ORBITEC’s “VEGGIE” system in regards to utilizing nutrients locked in inedible plant biomass.
The VEGGIE project hopes to grow fresh vegetables for astronauts in space. However, inedible biomass, such as roots and stems, is currently packaged as trash to be tossed or incinerated, a very inefficient method of generating energy. A successful implementation of this X-Hab project will instead, recycle these nutrients which will result in an extension of space travel due to an increasingly efficient process of generating food.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/x-hab-working-seventh-season-of-academic-aided-innovation
https://engineering.osu.edu/news/2017/02/nasa%E2%80%99s-journey-mars-includes-pathways-learning