Space lettuce: NASA’s plans to grow nutritious plants on Mars

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NASA is examining ways to ensure explorers have nourishing produce, including fresh plants, on future space missions to the Moon and Mars.
Efforts to grow plants such as lettuce, peppers, radishes, and tomatoes in microgravity have been underway, revealing new insights into how spaceflight influences plant genetics, water use, and flavor.
Plants are key to space exploration This work is being guided by Gioia Massa from NASA.
Her background involves studying plant behavior in space to help boost the variety and taste of fresh crops.
Growing crops in microgravity One key study, Plant Habitat-07, looks at how lettuce tolerates different moisture conditions in microgravity.

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NASA is looking at ways to guarantee that future space missions to the Moon and Mars will provide explorers with nourishing produce, including fresh plants. Although sealed food packets work well, they may eventually lose their vitamins and flavor.

This issue might be resolved and crew morale raised by growing vegetables and leafy greens on the space station.

In an attempt to better understand how spaceflight affects plant genetics, water use, and flavor, efforts have been made to grow plants like lettuce, peppers, radishes, and tomatoes in microgravity.

The key to space exploration is plants.

NASA’s Gioia Massa is directing this work. Her experience includes researching how plants behave in space in order to improve the diversity and flavor of fresh produce.

Her team has concentrated on how microgravity and elements like humidity and light control impact plant shape, nutrient quality, and yield as NASA prepares the way for deeper space travel.

They also keep tabs on whether the bacteria that coexist with the plants are still safe and helpful to human health by studying them.

Crop cultivation in microgravity.

Plant Habitat-07, one important study, examines how lettuce responds to varying moisture levels in microgravity.

While too much water can limit oxygen at the roots, too little water can result in wilting, even though water is essential for plant cells.

This study examines how plants adapt nutrient production using four different moisture conditions in a specialized growth chamber.

Researchers look at yield, general plant health, and the potential risks posed by bacterial populations on the leaves. According to preliminary data, maintaining robust leaves that still taste good requires balancing water.

improving the taste of vegetables grown in space.

The effects of fertilizer and light quality on lettuce and other leafy greens on station were highlighted by NASA’s Veg-04A and Veg-04B experiments.

According to studies, the appearance, flavor, and growth of leaves are altered by changing the red and blue LEDs or the nutrient formulas.

More recent tomato and other crop plantings were guided by these studies. Feedback on flavor and freshness from crew members may help choose seeds for a variety of salads on long-haul spaceflights in the future.

Low gravity alters gene expression and the way plants control important chemical markers, according to a study on Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as thale cress. DNA methylation, a process that can turn genes on or off, was monitored by researchers.

Their findings pave the way for novel approaches to adapting plant genes to deal with spatial challenges, such as peculiar water movement or constrained floor space.

Movement and hormones.

Researchers have looked into how plant hormones control growth in microgravity. Auxins, which are natural signals that guide the direction of roots and shoots, were the subject of one set of tests.

When floating in microgravity, certain plant species’ auxin levels decreased, which disrupted their typical upward stem development pattern.

Others had higher levels, indicating that species-specific differences exist in the precise result. NASA uses this small change in plant chemistry to help them create growth chambers that best suit the requirements of each crop.

constructing plants with space management in mind.

For reasons that are unknown, roots and shoots in microgravity may produce thicker walls or weaker supporting tissues.

A variety of laboratory instruments were used in an investigation to detect alterations in the molecules that make up plant cell walls, particularly those that give them mechanical strength.

While some species quickly adapt and build strong walls, others don’t. NASA’s next objective is to pinpoint which cultivars thrive in low gravity environments or modify environmental factors to make roots less likely to bend or thin.

Sterols and flowering in space.

Researchers on the Resist Tubule mission discovered that microgravity-grown arabidopsis plants occasionally exhibit lower sterol levels.

In addition to supporting a variety of growth responses, such as the timing and manner of a plant’s flowering transition, sterols aid in maintaining the stability of cell membranes.

Certain stages of development may be slowed by the decrease in sterols in microgravity. Through identifying the genes that regulate those sterols, scientists can identify strategies for maintaining plant schedules.

Using plants to prepare for space travel.

The first step is to have delicious salad greens on board. NASA is concentrating on keeping crews alive during lengthy missions.

Thus far, there has been encouraging progress: fresh produce can be grown in orbit, and every new discovery aids in process improvement.

More crops are being tested for shelf life, nutrition, and flavor, which gives humans the ability to grow food far from Earth.

With the help of specialists like Gioia Massa, in-space agriculture appears to have a bright future for crew satisfaction and sustenance.

The Journal of Plant Interactions has published the study.

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