August 22, 2024

Miles Charm Manalo 

10th Grade

Okkodo High School

Humanity, like all living species, relies on Earth every day; however, scientists anticipate that other planets have an even greater potential than Earth to sustain life. Since plants are fundamental to the majority of our everyday resources, researchers have decided to examine them further. In 1946, the first attempt at growing plants during spaceflight was executed within the proximity of V-2 rockets, but no plant growth was recorded successfully at the time. Over the years, researchers, botanists, and farmers have conducted various experiments with technology as it is continually evolving. For this reason, the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) was developed in 2017 by scientists for plant research in space. Naturally, many other programs were created regarding plants in space; however, the APH is considered the largest plant growth research facility for plant research on the International Space Station (ISS). 

The APH comprises various processes. With LED lights as an alternative to sunlight positioned in a growth chamber, a permeable clay substance will deliver nutrients and oxygen to the plant’s roots with the help of a controlled fertilizer leading. This process is thoroughly supervised with cameras, alongside sensors that relay footage or updates to one of the research teams at the Kennedy Space Center. These procedures are all sufficient to sustain plants in space because they meet the technological demand of growing these crops in space. 

The concept of plants in space and astrobotany was initially introduced by a heightened curiosity about how plants will respond to microgravity and the idea that space-food production is key to making space exploration progress. Twenty experiments were conducted in 2010 on the International Space Station (ISS) for long-term space missions, a great example of which is their use of vegetable production. Even amongst the many failed attempts, in the duration of progressive research, NASA astronauts were eventually able to eat their first space-grown crop in 2015!

The benefits of this newfound technology are prominent, but despite the countless subjects in astrobotany, they still have their flaws. Research facilities and programs like the Advanced Plant Habitat and Veggie (more formally, the Vegetable Production System,) struggle with preventing pathogens from entering the plant’s system, causing plants to grow fungi as well as preventing necessary airflow. In some cases, the plant will even die. Air is unable to circulate naturally in space, so oxygen released by plants during the process of photosynthesis could cluster and lead to even more plant deaths. In other cases, however, the plant may be subjected to an unhealthy amount of radiation, also leading to plant death.

Plants in space are undoubtedly critical for future generations, and in this era, it is common knowledge that we are in a constant state of evolutionary progression. Thus, any bright ideas are continuously welcome—and who knows? The next revolutionary idea might be yours.