NASA has been involved in many recent developments related to aeroponics. Aeroponics offers a soil-less growing medium and produces larger, more nutritious crops within a shorter period, using 95% less water and 30% less nutrient solution. Aeroponics also allows you to maximize production in very little space. This makes it an ideal solution for providing fresh, nutritious food for long term space missions and future colonies on Mars and beyond.
When fewer resources are required for long term missions, that decreases payloads, which are a critical consideration for both size and weight. There are a wide variety of crops that thrive in aeroponics systems, including a few important ones that are simply unsuitable for hydroponics. Potatoes are an excellent source nutrients and carbohydrates, both of which are critical to sustain life, but they cannot survive in hydroponics where the roots are regularly submerged in water. Other nutritious root vegetables like carrots, beets, and onions are successfully grown in aeroponics since the roots have time to almost dry between mistings, eliminating the risk of rotting.
