What plants do astronauts grow in space?

To date, Veggie has successfully grown a variety of plants, including three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale and zinnia flowers.

Can you grow plants in a spaceship?

But astronauts have grown several varieties of lettuce, radishes, peas, zinnias, and sunflowers, and they do just fine. “Plants are very adaptive, and they have to be—they can’t run away,” says Gioia Massa, a scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center who studies plants in microgravity.

Why are plants grown in enclosed containers in space?

Plants use gravity and light on Earth for growth. The gravity pulls the roots down in the ground and light pulls the stems upward. Scientists have developed special containers to help guide plants’ growth in the right direction in space. Providing light in space uses up a lot of power.

Do plants grow different in space?

Previous spaceflight experiments have confirmed that, as long as the environment is controlled with the right hardware, seeds can germinate, the resulting seedlings can grow, and the mature plants can bloom and bear fruit in space. However, the degree of growth is a different matter.

What does plants need to grow?

All plants need space to grow, the right temperature, light, water, air, nutrients, and time.

What makes growing plants in space challenging?

Growing plants in space is tough — low gravity means water distribution is difficult to manage, the roots are often starved of oxygen, and stagnant air reduces evaporation and increases the leaf temperature.

How do plants know which way to grow in space?

They use little statolith balls as gravity receptors. His idea got a boost when he sent some seedlings into space (to the space station) where the pull of gravity is close to zero, figuring if the statoliths just float randomly and don’t drop to the bottom of their cells, the plants won’t know which way is down.

Does plants grow on Mars?

Fertilizing Mars Research suggests Martian soil has some of the nutrients plants need to grow and survive (see “Plants’ Nutrients,” right). But because of Mars’s extremely cold conditions, plants such as Watney’s potatoes would need to grow inside a controlled environment, such as his Hab.