Space agriculture is becoming a new frontier of research as scientists look to outer space as a potential home for humans. Dr. Santosh Pitla, associate professor of biological systems engineering, and Dr. Yufeng Ge, Eberhard Professor of Agriculture and professor of biological systems engineering, founded the Consortium of Space, Policy, Agriculture, Climate and Extreme Environment (SPACE2) to research ways to sustainably grow food on space stations, the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies that might eventually sustain legions of the human kind.
Bio
Dr. Santosh Pitla is an associate professor of biological systems engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is co-founder of the Consortium of Space, Policy, Agriculture, Climate and Extreme Environment, which researches ways to sustainably grow food on space stations, the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies that might eventually sustain legions of the human kind. He earned his bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering at Osmania University in India; master’s of science in biosystems and agricultural engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky; and doctor of philosophy in biosystems and agricultural engineering at the University of Kentucky.
Bio
Dr. Yufeng Ge is professor of biological systems engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is co-founder of the Consortium of Space, Policy, Agriculture, Climate and Extreme Environment, which researches ways to sustainably grow food on space stations, the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies that might eventually sustain legions of the human kind. He earned his bachelor’s of science in mechanical engineering at Nanjing Forestry University in China; master’s in mechanical engineering at Nanjing Forestry University in China; and doctor of philosophy in biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University.