On Monday, NASA flight engineer Kate Rubins chilled out 20 radish plants grown in the space station’s Advanced Plant Housing, wrapping them in foil for cold storage, until they return to Earth next year.
“I’ve been working on APH from the beginning, and every new crop we’re able to grow gives me great pleasure because everything we’ve learned from them will help NASA send astronauts to Mars and bring them back safely.” Nicole Dufour, Advanced Plant Habitat Program Manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, said in a news release.
Back on the ground, scientists at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida grow radishes in a control group for pruning on December 15th. Researchers will compare radishes grown in space with veggies grown on Earth and examine how space remedies. On providing the minerals and nutrients astronauts need while preparing for the long voyage.
Meanwhile, astronauts will repeat the radish experiment in heaven, planting and reaping the second round of radish crops, so that scientists can get more information.
With their short planting time, radishes represent potential benefits as a source of food for future astronauts, embarking on deep space missions in the coming years. The radish grows rapidly, and it can reach full maturity in 27 days.
Even root vegetables do not require much maintenance from the growing crew.
Carl Hassenstein, a professor of biology at the University of Louisiana and chief investigator of the project, said in a news release that the radish sculptures offer great research possibilities based on the design of their sensitive bulbs.
According to Hassenstein, who has been conducting plant experiments with NASA since 1995, researchers will analyze the effects of carbon dioxide on roots as well as how vegetables obtain and distribute minerals.
The astronauts have grown 15 different types of plants on the station, including eight different types of leafy greens. And NASA has already tested more than 100 crops on Earth, identifying which candidates in space are going to make further efforts.
“Growth in the crop range helps us determine which plants thrive in microgravity and provide the best variety and nutrient balance for astronauts on long-term missions,” Dufour said.
Years of research with space crops
NASA researchers began experiments using its Vegetable Production Systems Growth Chamber in 2014, shortly after landing on the space station.
In August 2015, NASA shared a video Shows American astronauts Dr. K. Kegel Lindgren and Scott Kelly floating on the station, saying “cheers” and eating treats grown in space.
“Good taste,” Kelly said.
Getting space agriculture is the right thing to do because the nutrients in the pre-packaged food that astronauts currently eat in space degrade from time to time, NASA said.
Humans need food grown along the way to reach Mars and return safely to a two- to three-year mission. It simply provides astronauts with a greater supply of fresh nutrients on the voyage; According to the agency, it tends to be a crop that has both a simulated and literal taste of home.
The NASA Artemis program aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024, and to establish a continued presence on the moon by 2028. From there, the agency prepares to deliver its next big leap to Mars.
But before we take it to the red planet, we first got to make a delicious green space salad.
CNN’s Ashley Strickland contributed to the story.
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