In 1999, NASA funded development of an inflatable low-mass aeroponic system (AIS) for space and Earth high performance food production. AIS is a self-contained, self-supporting, inflatable aeroponic crop production system capable of controlling nutrient/mist delivery to the plant roots. Being an inflatable structure, AIS is lightweight, and can be deflated to take up less volume during transportation and storage. The current iteration of AIS improved upon the previous design that used rigid structures, which are more expensive to manufacture and transport.