At the dawn of the first MANNED, interstellar voyages, one of the most urgent questions to answer was how to provide newly arrived colonists with the food they needed to survive and prosper on the new worlds to which they have arrived. Cultivating crops in unknown grounds was a dificult feat and raising livestock during interstellar travels was completely out of question.
As several of the first few tragic expeditions have shown, the answer to this problem has not been an easy one... Wild chemistry, lack of oxygen, hostile creatures or simply sheer misfortune often hindered colonists' attempts at growing crops vital to their survival... Starvation was often the main cause for new settlements to collapse.
Luckily, soon enough a technology has been developed that allowed for food production and proper nutrition of the colonists regardless of conditions and hazards present on newly discovered interstellar worlds. High-Altitude Nutrition and Research Centers, (also known as HANARC or simply "atmo-farms") the proprietary technology of "KUNDE Life Support Systems" company, has been an ultimate answer to the problem and a sturdy front against starvation on interstellar missions. They can be found on any world where crop cultivation may be impossible due to chemical, topographical or safety reasons.
Atmo-farms are exactly what they sound - farm compounds that, instead of using host-planet soil, float high above the surface of the newly colonized planet in a friendlier air environment, free of all the dangers on the ground below. Atmo-farms use specially prepared and verified Terran-class soil in order to raise crops at high altitudes in the warmth and safety of protective cultivation domes and under the careful eyes of the atmo-farm crews. The crew typically consists of seven personnel - two biologists, two agricultural technicians, one chemist, a security officer and an "Assembly Officer" (who professionally can be one of the previously said experts but usually it is either a technician or a biologist).
Atmo-farms use solar energy for power and stay afloat with the use of class-VI anti-gravitational thrusters (atmo-farms are usually located at around 22-135km above the surface of the host planet). Also, in geographical terms, the whole assembly (habitat and farm domes) are held in location relative to the surface of the planet with the use of the so called "suspension beacons" emmited from specially designed sattelites passing overhead (think of it as a more complex version of the GPS system). On ocassion of loss of anti-gravitational thrusters crew usually has about 7 minutes to complete evacuation procedure and escape the assembly using six-seat shuttle (bottom part of the picture) and micro-fighter (left-hand side of the picture, this one is operated by the security officer).
HANARC of the same size as the one pictured can provide daily food supply for approximately 100 people but there are also bigger, more robust assemblies to be found in various star systems.
Currently, there are 83 HANARCs accross the entire Milky Way Galaxy serving or assisting about 15500 colonists.
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Pictured: HANARC built on Brelonta - a rugged moon of the gas giant Bryzeis (visible in the background) located in the 47 Ursae Majoris star system (45.9 ly). This HANARC serves a small mining outpost of 78 people. Although Brelonta has a relatively breathable atmosphere, due to its wildly eroded surface it would have been impossible to cultivate crops there. HANARC is the simplest solution to provide all the food needed on such an exotic world.
