Australian scientists leading the charge in creating ‘space plants’ which will fuel astronauts on their missions

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Scientists based at the University of WA are growing food they say will survive and thrive in outer space. They’re one year into a seven-year research project, aimed at creating nutrient-dense plants for astronauts.

Transcript

00:00These little seedlings have a long mission ahead of them.

00:06They aren't bound for Earth, but destined for an intergalactic journey.

00:11Scientists at Plants for Space are maximising their potential to create nutritious, low-waste

00:16food for astronauts.

00:17They're often having to eat things that are vacuum-packed and that might not be very enjoyable

00:24for them to eat.

00:25If we produce plants that have a full nutritional profile, it means that astronauts, when they

00:31go to space, they're able to meet all of their nutritional needs just from the plants that

00:35they're eating.

00:36These plants here are duckweed and moss.

00:40Duckweed is really great because it has a high protein content.

00:43Plants without roots limit the amount of food wasted.

00:47When we're in space, we don't want to be throwing away a lot of products.

00:51So we want to grow plants where you're able to eat and consume pretty much the entire

00:55plant.

00:56It's people like Australian astronaut Catherine Bennel-Pegg who will reap the benefits.

01:01Many astronauts up there crave a really loaded salad or something like that.

01:08It's not easy.

01:09You can't have fresh salad things up there.

01:11Everything pretty much that astronauts eat today comes from Earth and that's something

01:16that we need to solve if we want to venture further afield.

01:19Actually scientists aren't just developing plants that they can grow on board space shuttles.

01:23Within the next few years, they think they'll be able to grow vegetables like tomatoes and

01:28potatoes on the moon.

01:30By simulating space-like environments, scientists can analyse how plants grow in hostile climates.

01:36Where we have complete control over the light, the humidity, the nutrients that we're providing

01:41to the plants, we grow them as fast as possible to produce whatever we want and try and keep

01:47the waste to an absolute minimum.

01:49We're hoping to create a future out of this world.

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