While more information about it was symbolically released around Valentine’s Day in order to make for a sweet nod to the holiday, here’s why gardening in space is important and insightful. Also recently mentioned in the Reddit AMA Scott Kelly – astronaut who has, at this point, lived on the International Space Station for nearly 10 months – did from the ISS, it would seem that scientists are more than just a little interested in the information they can gather from growing and harvesting plants in outer space.
The plants that were chosen for this experiment were a breed of Zinnia that underwent the Veggie ground control experiment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and simultaneously on the International Space Station. Recently, both were harvested and studied to see what impact growing them in a zero gravity and harsh outer space conditions had on the plant, in comparison to one that was grown in a similar method on Earth’s surface.
Earlier reports from the ISS mentioned that the Zinnia plants up there had an unexpected fungus growth occurrence that resulted in their withering. However, some of the plants managed to survive to the harvest day that was the 14th of February. After Scott Kelly managed to complete harvesting the Zinnia plants, he provided the researchers back on earth with a complete report regarding how to effectively grow plants in outer space.
An experiment such as this one, which seems small scale on first look can actually end up having ground-breaking results when the knowledge is applied on a longer span of time in the future. Considering mankind is planning to one day find a method of populating the red planet, Mars, gardening and farming knowledge such as that changes in nature when applied to the wildly different conditions of outer space.
Researchers have multiple things to worry themselves with when it comes to growing plants in outer space. Things such as long-duration seed stow and germination, the effect of pollen on the crew’s health and even things such as the psychological effect on individuals who would be in space for a prolonged time.
A NASA mechanical engineer working on the Veggie experiment explained how blooming flowers of the Zinnia plants are a very good demonstration for sustainable food crops, even in a harsh place such as the International Space Station or even beyond. With sustainable food crops, mankind can hope to be able to prolong manned mission durations and a possible method of sustenance for future trips.
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