One giant ‘leaf’ for mankind in space
MIAMI: It’s not easy having a green thumb in space.
Without gravity, seeds can float away. Water doesn’t pour, but globs up and may drown the roots. And artificial lights and fans must be rigged just right to replicate the sun and wind.
But Nasa has decided that gardening in space will be crucial for the next generation of explorers, who need to feed themselves on missions to the Moon or Mars that may last months or years.
So the US space agency has turned to professional botanists and novice gardeners – high school students, in fact – to help them practise.
“There are tens of thousands of edible plants on Earth that would presumably be useful, and it becomes a big problem to choose which of those plants are the best for producing food for astronauts,” explained Carl Lewis, director of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, which is leading the effort.
The Miami-based garden has identified 106 plant varieties that might do well in space, including hardy cabbages and leafy lettuces.
They have enlisted 15,000 student botanists from 150 schools to grow plants in space-like conditions in their own classrooms.
The four-year project is about midway through, and is paid for by a US$1.24mil (RM5mil) grant from Nasa.
“We’re not using typical gardening equipment,” said Rhys Campo, a 17-year-old high school student who tried her hand at growing red romaine lettuce this year.
“We have setups that are a lot more high-tech.”
Still, some plants get overwatered, some classrooms are hotter or colder, and holiday breaks may leave the grow boxes unattended.
In Campo’s class, the lettuce dried up, and students were unable to taste it.
Such foibles have turned out to be an unexpected but useful part of the project, said Nasa plant scientist Gioia Massa.
“If you have a plant that does well in all that variability, chances are that plant will do well in space,” she said.