If humanity hopes to realize its dreams of exploring the stars, we’re going to need to find ways to recreate life on Earth aboard a spaceship. Simply stockpiling enough vital supplies isn’t going to cut it, which is what led Julian Melchiorri, a student at the Royal College of Art, to create an artificial biological leaf that produces oxygen.

The artificial leaves feature chloroplasts extracted from actual plant cells that are suspended in a material made from silk protein. So when given access to light and water they still produce oxygen, but they’re better suited to surviving off our planet.

from on .

Hydroponics has been thoroughly imagined in the context of longterm spaceflight, so it’s interesting to see this component – breathable air – dealt with as well. This is, to be sure, a potentially far, far cleaner solution.

Photos via Dezeen.
Quoted text via Gizmodo.