Given that astronauts on the International Space Station needs regular resupply of “freeze-dried cuisine,” will their ability to successfully grow their own food allow them to better explore space?
By: Ringo Bones
One primary setback of our inability to be better space
explorers is out inability to grow our own food in our current self-contained
space habitats, hopefully this will all change once a British astronaut’s
scientific experiments display promising results. When British astronaut Tim
Peake’s request for British schoolchildren to help him with one of his
scientific experiments got press coverage back in January 29, 2016 could not
only rekindle school kids’ interest in science around the world but has the
potential to solve one of the most intransigent logistical problems faced by
astronauts on the International Space Station. Astronaut Tim Peake wants UK
pupils to plant rocket seeds – also known as Eruca sativa, an annual plant that
is also edible – using seeds that have been in orbit with him and compare their
growth with rocket plant seeds that have stayed on Earth.
The study will help find ways to grow food in space which
will be essential if humans want to successfully travel to distant planets. In
his message, the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut explains that he will be
sending more than a million seeds back to Earth in a month’s time. These seeds
had been exposed to the weightless conditions as long as he is in the
International Space Station. Tim Peake says: “this experiment will aim to see
if microgravity can affect the growth mechanism in seeds.” Which might as well,
given that our current space-faring vehicles are not yet equipped with artificial
gravity mechanisms that can effectively mimic planet Earth’s surface gravity.
The project is being run by the Royal Horticultural Society
and the UK Space Agency. The seeds will be distributed to up to 10,000 schools.
Pupils will compare the growth of weightlessness exposed “space seeds” with
others that have remained on Earth – which will be designated as the control.
This comparison has never been made on this scale, according to Dr. Alistair
Griffiths, the scientific director of the Royal Horticultural Society. Even
though astronaut Tim Peake and the Royal Horticultural Society’s “space seed experiment”
may seem the first ever to most people, the United States’ NASA did a similar
experiment back in the 1980s.
Then popularly referred to as “The Great Tomato Seed Experiment”
back in 1984, NASA launched the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) aboard
the Space Shuttle. LDEF carried 57 experiments, including one specifically
designed to be performed by American students. It was then known as the Space
Exposure Experiment Developed for Students – or SEEDS – consists of 12.5
million Rutgers tomato seeds that remained in space for almost six years. The LDEF,
together with the 12.5 million tomato seeds were later returned to Earth aboard
the Space Shuttle Columbia during mission STS-32. Back then over 40,000
educators with 4 million students in 150,000 classrooms across the United
States participated in growing the tomato seeds carried aboard the LDEF after
being exposed to weightless conditions – and increased cosmic radiation – for almost
six years.
