Get ready for launch, it’s time for the latest edition of Gardeners off World!
21.08.2023 - 11:56 / theunconventionalgardener.com / Emma Doughty
Hello! Welcome to Gardeners Off World. This week we’ll start with a musical interlude, as violinist Lindsey Stirling recently performed her song, Artemis, on top of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center:
And NASA has produced a lovely video showing how technology developed to help plants grow in space is cleaning up mould in the wine industry:
The lack of airflow in space means that the ethylene gas naturally given off by plants can build up quickly. Ethylene is a plant hormone that ripens fruits and ages flowers, and the high levels in space environments caused plants to mature too soon. The Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) plant growth chamber included technology to remove ethylene – an ethylene scrubber – that doesn’t need filters and doesn’t produce harmful waste products.
Back on Earth, that technology is included in the Airocide air purifier, which also removes bacteria, mould, fungi, mycotoxins and viruses, as well as ethylene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
The mainstream media rushes to publish stories about how the climate emergency is going to affect the things we love the most – coffee, chocolate and wine. Space Cargo Unlimited is using microgravity experiments to find new ways to adapt vines to changing growing conditions. There are six separate experiments included in Mission WISE (Vitis Vinum in Spatium Experimentia), three of which have already launched.
Firstly, a case of Bordeaux wine launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2019. It will remain there to age in space for a year, before returning to Earth for analysis. That experiment is called Complex Micro(μ)-Biological System (CommuBioS).
The second experiment took a shorter trip to space, aboard Blue
Get ready for launch, it’s time for the latest edition of Gardeners off World!
This week, Gardeners Off World watched as the latest SpaceX launch (CRS-19) delivered more exciting experiments to the International Space Station (ISS).
This morning, the Boeing Company’s CST-100 Starliner capsule launched on its first mission to the International Space Station. The aim of this uncrewed Orbital Test Flight (OFT) was to demonstrate that the spacecraft is ready to transport NASA astronauts and cargo. An instrumented mannequin named Rosie (named after the WW2 icon Rosie the Riveter, and a nod to the trailblazing women in aerospace and human spaceflight) took the place of a crew.
Welcome interplanetary gardeners! This week’s Gardeners off World starts with a little video Boeing has put together of the inside of the crew cabin on the recent Starliner test flight (the one that took tree seeds into space). You can see Rosie the instrumented mannequin, but the highlight is watching astronaut Snoopy float about as the spacecraft reaches orbit, and then plop back down into his seat during the descent!
Hello! Welcome to Gardeners off World. The big news for space gardeners this week is that NASA has determined that the salads grown in Veggie are safe to eat. And a team of Russian researchers have developed a prototype for an orbital greenhouse. The Orbital Biological Automatic Module includes smart lighting to accelerate plant growth, specialised hydroponics, automated irrigation and harvesting solutions. It could be heading to the International Space Station (ISS) – “Humanity’s home in Low Earth Orbit” – in the next few years.
Hello, and welcome to Gardeners Off World, your round-up of interplanetary news and views. NASA’s Christina Koch returned to Earth yesterday, after spending 328 days onboard the International Space Station (ISS) – the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Koch participated in three expeditions – 59, 60 and 61 – during her first spaceflight. ESA’s Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov came home on the same flight.
Hello, and welcome to Gardeners off World! On 15 February, the NG-13 cargo ship blasted off from NASA Wallops on its way to the International Space Station (ISS). It arrived on 18 February, where NASA astronaut Drew Morgan caught it with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
What did you get for Christmas? Hopefully something good, something seedy and something spacey!
This week, Gardeners Off World is blasting off to celebrate an off-world Thanksgiving. Let’s rehydrate some turkey!
Hello, and welcome to Gardeners Off World, a weekly round-up of news and entertainment for people who rather fancy getting their hands dirty on another planet!
Welcome to Gardeners Off World, my weekly round-up of news for green-fingered space nuts! It’s time to suit up and head out into the solar system
It’s Day 19 of the Great British Blast Off, and crew is finding it hard to adjust to life in the isolation of space. Mission Control is having trouble controlling its Isonauts, many of whom keep popping out of the airlock on “essential business”. Some of the Space Dogs are complaining of exhaustion from all the extra spacewalks.