Although a seed bank is being transported for use on arrival at the new planet, conventional plants are not the most efficient way to produce food aboard ship. Two main routes to producing biomass for consumption are being utilised. These are algal use of solar energy and the growth of chemoautrotrophic bacteria and archae that use iron-containing materials harvested from asteroids as their energy source.
Both have the advantage that they also remove carbon dioxide from the air but the algae have the additional advantage of oxygen production. Of course, the algae can only work while the sun is sufficiently close.
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