Research

Farming in Space

Vegetable Production System : VEGGIE

Garden on ISS

Helps NASA study plant growth in microgravity.
Adds fresh food to diet for better nutrition and morale.
Holds 6 plants.
"Pillow" of clay/fertilizer.
- Distributes water, nutrients, and air in an even way.
- Without it, fluids become bubbles.

Advanced Plant Habitat : APH

Automated version of VEGGIE.

Water recovery and distribution, atmosphere content, moisture levels and temperature are all automated.
More colors of LED light.
Collects samples, preserves, and sends samples back to earth.
Uses Arabidopsis thaliana (the “white mouse of the plant research world”) and dwarf wheat.

The Advanced Plant Habitat - Growing peppers

Sierra Space

NASA’s Matt Romeyn works in the Crop Food Production Research Area of the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA/Cory Huston

Plant Habitat - 04

Petri dish machine to study effect of space on organisms.

LED added for plants added.
Plants have increased stress from oxidation.
Also may have decreased disease protection.

Problems With Growing in Space

Difficulties with water distribution - water tends to pool into bubbles!
Root development - plants rely heavily upon gravity for root/stem development.
Not enough: air, water, space, arable land, stable temperature, low radiation.

Fun Fact: There is a various amount of plants that can be grown on the ISS. One example is that there is various types of lettuce such as romaine!

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