ISS’ Astonishing ‘Space Garden’ With Fresh Fruits And Vegetables

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9 years ago

MessageToEagle.com – Lettuce, peas and radishes are just a few vegetables that are found in a summer garden.

But did you know these same vegetables also can be grown in space? Crew members aboard the International Space Station have been growing such plants and vegetables for years in their “space garden.”

This garden represents a safe source of fresh food indispensable for astronauts’ health.

“Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth system for growing vegetables and other plants in space. (NASA)

Zinnia flowers are starting to grow in the International Space Station’s Veggie facility as part of the VEG-01 investigation. Veggie provides lighting and nutrient supply for plants in the form of a low-cost growth chamber and planting “pillows” to provide nutrients for the root system.

According to NASA:

“Veggie is a deployable plant growth unit capable of producing
salad-type crops to provide the crew with a palatable, nutricious, and safe source of
fresh food and a tool to support relaxation and recreation…”

These plants appear larger than their ground-based counterparts and scientists expect buds to form on the larger plants soon.

Lettuce, peas and radishes are just a few vegetables that are found in a summer garden. But did you know these same vegetables also can be grown in space? Crew members aboard the International Space Station have been growing such plants and vegetables for years in their “space garden.” Credits: NASA

The Veggie facility supports a variety of plant species that can be cultivated for educational outreach, fresh food and even recreation for crew members on long-duration missions.

Previously, the facility has grown lettuce — which was consumed by the crew earlier this year — and now investigators are attempting to grow Zinnia flowers.

Understanding how flowering plants grow in microgravity can be applied to growing other edible flowering plants, such as tomatoes.

Zinnia flowers are starting to grow in the International Space Station’s Veggie facility as part of the VEG-01 investigation attempting to grow plants in the form of a growth chamber and planting “pillows,” which provide nutrients for the root system in orbit. These plants appear larger than their ground-based counterparts and scientists expect buds to form on the larger plants soon. Credits: NASA

The lettuce seeds were planted on July 8th by astronaut Scott Kelly. By harvest, they’ll have spent 33 days growing isode Veg-01, a light bank that includes red, green and blue LEDs. It’s important to know that **red and blue light are the two most important parts of the spectrum indispensable for synthesis.** Green light – is rather useless, but… to avoid purple space plants, the engineers behind Veg-01 decided to add green to the mix. Credits: NASA

NASA plans to grow food onboard future spacecraft and on other plants as a food supplement for its astronauts. (NASA)

As we see plants can really flourish in spaceships and experiments onboard the ISS prove it.

In the future, ‘Space Garden’ will deliver much more; it will harvest other fruits, vegetables and plants — possibly even dwarf plum trees, according to NASA.

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via NASA