A healthy, nutritious diet is essential for long-duration exploration missions, which means that the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet may need to be supplemented by fresh foods during flight.
For astronauts on long-duration missions, fresh harvest has several benefits. The first is, of course, nutrition, but the second is emotion. Palatable food feels good. It would enhance the dietary experience and living experience as well.
It's also great for logistics. Bio-regeneration would reduce the mass of a spacecraft at launch. That's essential for missions that would last months or years. CHAPEA 1's habitat was 3D printed, another potential attribute for a Mars trip that would reduce bulk at launch.
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