As part of the Plant Habitat-02 experiment, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has harvested the first radishes grown aboard the International Space Station.
The following radish shows the 27-day process of radish growth on the space station accelerated for the study in 10 seconds.
Why radishes?
Rubins meticulously picked and wrapped each of the 20 radish plants in aluminum foil, placing them in cold storage for the trip back to Earth in 2021. As they grew inside the habitat, The radishes required little maintenance from the crew.
But why radishes? Because they are nutritious, grow quickly, and are genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant frequently studied in microgravity.
As explained Nicole Dufour, NASA APH program manager at Kennedy Space Center:
Radishes are a different type of crop compared to the leafy greens that astronauts previously grew on the space station, or the baby wheat that was the first crop grown on the APH. Growing a variety of crops helps us determine which plants thrive in microgravity and offer the best variety and nutritional balance for astronauts on long-duration missions.
Sophisticated control systems supply water, while control chambers and more than 180 sensors in the chamber allow researchers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to monitor plant growth, as well as regulate levels of humidity, temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration.
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The news
These are the first radishes to be grown on the International Space Station
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.