NASA is using students to identify plants to be used by astronauts

Students of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Florida, United States have received plant growing stations similar to the ones used by NASA scientists for research. The institute is collaborating with Veggie, a NASA funded program for researching the growth of edible plants in orbit. NASA is using the students to study the best species of plants that can be used in orbit, in space and on the surface of other planets, with a focus on Mars. The innovative approach uses student citizen scientists for actual research that will benefit long duration space missions, including space stations in orbit and interplanetary travel. Trent Smith, project manager for Veggie said “Once you tell the students that the plants are candidates for space and for astronauts to eat on their journey to Mars they start paying a lot of attention. These answers are not in the back of the book. Whatever they find when they grow their plants, they are finding it out for the first time for anyone.” Amy Padolf, director of education at Fairchild said “It’s very powerful to put the science in the hands of the students. It is putting what they have learned to use in a very practical way.”  NASA is in the process of planning a manned mission to Mars, and the two and a half year trip will require Astronauts to grow and eat their own food. However, there are thousands of unique plant species on Earth, and it is a massive effort for scientists to study the best plants that can be grown on Mars, and in a spacecraft, over the duration of a mission. The plants serve the dual purpose of Nutrition and building morale in Astronauts. The plants are grown in a fertiliser mix, that approximates what astronauts will use on a journey to Mars. The light source for the plants are a mix of red, blue and white light all turned on at once. The plants grow in this purplish pink hue, and the students measure and record parameters such as the rate of growth, the volume of space occupied by the plant and the number of leaves. The students are also required to post regular social media updates, which are collected on the twitter handle @GrowBeyondEarth. The soil on Earth is nutrient rich because of organic content in the form of buried animal and planet material. Compared to Earth, the surface on Mars is made up of regolith. Regolith is crushed volcanic rock, without organic content. Viable farming on the Martian surface will require supplementing the Regolith with nutrients and organic matter. A further complication that scientists will have to work around is the existence of toxic chemicals on the Martian surface.