Radishes will soon enter the realm of asteroids, stars and cosmic dust, thanks to 麻豆夜市 researcher Dr. Karl Hasenstein.
Hasenstein, a professor of biology in the , is sending radish seeds to the International Space Station. The experiment is part of NASA鈥檚 quest to develop ways to produce nutritious vegetables in space to sustain astronauts during long missions.
The seeds will travel to the space station aboard a Cygnus spacecraft launched by an Antares rocket on Thursday, Oct. 1. The craft will carry supplies, equipment and scientific experiments. Blast off is scheduled for 8:38 p.m. EDT from NASA鈥檚 Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Once the seeds arrive, astronauts will place them inside an artificial environment called an Advanced Plant Habitat. The enclosed apparatus will enable scientists to study the radishes as they grow in altered gravity, and different atmospheric, light and soil conditions. The radishes will be cultivated for four weeks, the growth period for the plant.
Hasenstein鈥檚 ongoing research is funded with a $573,000 grant NASA awarded 麻豆夜市 in 2017.
The crunchy vegetables are well suited for researching galactic gardening, he explained. 鈥淭hey are fast growers, and the longer it takes a plant to grow in space before it can be harvested, the greater the potential for things to go wrong. Replicating nature isn鈥檛 easy.鈥
Figuring out how to reliably grow crops inside a tiny, human-made environment some 240 miles above Earth carries 鈥渁n enormous learning curve,鈥 Hasenstein said. The habitat is 18 inches square and enables plants to reach a height of 16 inches.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very intricate system. It doesn鈥檛 tell you it dispensed 5 milliliters of water, for example. It tells you something like it activated 300 clicks to dispense a certain amount of water. So you have to translate what it all means,鈥 he said.
Four batches of 20 radishes will be grown as part of Hasenstein鈥檚 research. Astronauts will monitor two batches aboard the station; another two batches will be grown at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Based on photos taken by the artificial habitat鈥檚 camera that are downloaded to Earth daily, Hasenstein will control experiment parameters.
NASA鈥檚 plan to discover methods for growing vegetables in space is part of a larger effort. The space agency hopes to put scientists on Mars as soon as 2030. Establishing human colonies on the inhospitable Red Planet, some 50 million miles away, hinges on many factors.
University researchers in the are developing methods to produce electricity on the fourth planet from the sun with solar panels. They鈥檙e also creating biorefineries capable of converting wastewater into potable water, and carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Hasentein is doing his part to make human existence on Mars possible.
In 2017, Hasenstein sent radishes to the space station to explore ways altered or reduced gravity affects plants鈥 growth and metabolism. In 2014, an experiment aboard the station examined how Brassica rapa plants, of which turnips are a subspecies, sense and react to gravity in a weightless environment.
Each of Hasenstein鈥檚 experiments adds to a growing body of knowledge for cultivating vegetables in space, he explained. 鈥淩adishes, cabbages, turnips, and broccoli are all from the same family, and contain similar compounds. So, when we get data on one, we can make extrapolations about the others.鈥
Hasenstein isn鈥檛 sure when his latest project will return to Earth. The first batch of radishes is tentatively scheduled to return in late December. No date has been established to send the second batch home. When they do return, Hasenstein will retrieve the plants from the Kennedy Space Center.
A team of University scientists, including undergraduate and graduate students, will then conduct exhaustive laboratory research. They will analyze growth rates, genetic profiles, mineral uptake, nutrient content, metabolic and physiological responses, and many other variables. The research will be compare compared to data collected from experiments on the ground.
Hasenstein is optimistic he鈥檒l also get input from an important group of food critics. 鈥淗opefully, we can grow enough quality radishes to say, 鈥楬ey, astronaut, are you ready to chomp on some space produce?鈥欌 he said with a laugh.
Learn more about the and how to watch Thursday鈥檚 .
Photo caption: Dr. Karl Hasenstein, professor of biology at the 麻豆夜市, is sending a crop of radishes to the International Space Station. The vegetables will travel aboard a craft scheduled to be launched Thursday, Oct. 1, from NASA鈥檚 Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Hasenstein鈥檚 research is helping the space agency research methods for growing vegetables in space to sustain astronauts during long missions. Photo credit: Doug Dugas / 麻豆夜市