Plants in space

A young sunflower plant aboard the ISS[1]
Vegetable Production System for ISS being discussed

Plants in space are plants grown in outer space. In the context of human spaceflight, they can be used for food and/or refreshing the atmosphere.[2] Plants can scrub carbon dioxide and return oxygen, as well as adjust humidity.[3] Plants can be grown in a space garden.[4] Aspects include how plants grow without gravity,[5] and different types of lighting. Growing plants in space may provide a psychological benefit to human spaceflight crews.[3]

The first organisms in space were "specially developed strains of seeds" launched to 134 km on July 9, 1946 on a U.S. launched V-2 rocket. These samples were not recovered. The first seeds launched into space and successfully recovered were maize seeds launched on July 30, 1946. Soon followed rye and cotton. These early suborbital biological experiments were handled by Harvard University and the Naval Research Laboratory and were concerned with radiation exposure on living tissue.[6] In 1971, 500 tree seeds (Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, Sweetgum, Redwood, and Douglas Fir) were flown around the Moon on Apollo 14. These Moon trees were planted and grown with controls back on Earth where no changes were detected.

The SVET-2 Space Greenhouse successfully achieved seed to seed plant growth in 1997 aboard space station Mir.[3] Bion 5 carried Daucus carota and Bion 7 carried maize. Biomass Production System was the precursor to the VEGGIE system (Vegetable Production System) aboard ISS.[7] Plants tested in VEGGIE before going into space included lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes, Chinese cabbage and peas.[8] A Skylab experiment studied the effects of gravity and light on rice plants.[9][10] In one experiment, a flower's roots' were seen to grow normally despite the lack of gravity.[11]

Listing

Plant growth experiment on ISS

Examples of plants grown in space:

Experiments:

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Plants in space.
  1. ↑ SS038-E-000734 (13 Nov. 2013)
  2. ↑ NASA - Plants in Space
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 T.Ivanova, et al. - First Successful Space Seed-to-Seed Plant Growth Experiment in the SVET-2 Space Greenhouse in 1997
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 NASA - Growing Plants and Vegetables in a Space Garden
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 NASA - Getting to The Root of Plant Growth Aboard The Space Station
  6. ↑ Beischer, DE; Fregly, AR (1962). "Animals and man in space. A chronology and annotated bibliography through the year 1960". US Naval School of Aviation Medicine. ONR TR ACR-64 (AD0272581). Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  7. ↑ NASA - VEGGIE
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 NASA - Station Investigation to Test Fresh Food Experience
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Plant Growth/Plant Phototropism - Skylab Student Experiment ED-61/62
  10. ↑ NASA SP-401 - Chapter 5
  11. ↑ J. Owen - Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity (2013) - National Geographic
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 R. Zimmerman - Growing Pains (2003) - Air & Space/Smithsonian
  13. ↑ A Plant Growth Chamber 01.30.08
  14. ↑ Glow-in-the-Dark Plants on the ISS
  15. ↑ Encyclopedia Astronautica Salyut 7
  16. ↑ Plant Signaling (STS-135)
  17. ↑ STS-95 Space Experiments (plants and cell biology).

External links