{"id":871689,"date":"2026-08-26T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/871689\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T04:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T04:00:14","slug":"nunavut-might-get-moon-inspired-greenhouses-thanks-to-canadian-space-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/871689\/","title":{"rendered":"Nunavut might get moon-inspired greenhouses thanks to Canadian Space Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

There are many similarities between the moon and the Canadian Arctic \u2014 at least according to the Canadian Space Agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A similar environment in some respects and some of the same constraints apply in Nunavut as might apply on a moon mission,” said Corey Ellis, CEO of Growcer, a vertical farming company based in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

The company, along with Nunavut-based Arctic Fresh, were awarded a $745,000 contract from the space agency to develop designs for greenhouses in Nunavut. If successful, those designs might become a blueprint that\u00a0could later be used to grow food in space, Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nunavut \u2014 like the moon \u2014 is cold and has a lot of vast land. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no Home Depot that you can just walk to and get spare parts. So you’ve got to plan for that,\u201d Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be demonstrating some technologies that will be needed on a moon mission or just a space mission in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the design stage, the space agency will have to award another contract for construction of the greenhouses, said Merlyn Recinos, co-CEO of Arctic Fresh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If that happens, Recinos says, the greenhouses will likely come to five communities: Coral Harbour, Arctic Bay, Igloolik, Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, the company is planning consultations with those communities to determine what kind of freshly-grown produce they would like to see, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It can be anything from fruits and vegetables to medicinal plants that grow on the land.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recinos believes this space-inspired project will help feed not only future astronauts, but also\u00a0 residents of Nunavut, where more than half of the population lives in food insecure households<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what better way to benefit Earth than food autonomy, food security in the communities,” he said.<\/p>\n

The design work for the greenhouses is set to be completed in a year, but it\u2019s still unclear when the facilities will come to the territory, Ellis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Greenhouse brings freshness to Gjoa Haven\"BettyGreenhouse technician Betty Kogvik says fresh produce is hard to come by in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. (Arctic Research Foundation)<\/p>\n

This is not the first time the idea of Arctic greenhouses has made its way to Nunavut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The greenhouse in Gjoa Haven has been growing mint, strawberries and spicy peppers since 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Run by the Arctic Research Foundation it delivers produce for free to community members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really expensive to get produce in our community, some come in rotten,\u201d said Betty Kogvik, a technician at the greenhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The facility brings some freshness and joy to the community, Kogvik noted. <\/p>\n

\u201cElders really appreciate it,” she said. “There is one elderly lady, she jumps with joy when she receives anything we bring.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-871689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}