Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps the latest space plant news and then talks about some of the seeds with space stories.
21.08.2023 - 11:38 / theunconventionalgardener.com / Emma Doughty
Dr Zheng Wang from the US Naval Research Laboratory is the Principal Investigator for the “Investigating the Roles of Melanin and DNA Repair on Adaptation and Survivability of Fungi in Deep Space” study, an experiment headed for the Moon on NASA’s Artemis I mission. In this short video, he explains why he’s sending fungi into space.
Research in space is very important because we want to, in the future, we want to send people to space, to the Moon, to Mars. We have to understand how can we survive this unknown environment.
The fungi, by nature, has these natural mechanisms to survive and grow in the high radiation condition. This experiment, we want to understand how the fungi adapt to this space environment, how they cope with the radiation. This allows to find a new strategy or medicine to prevent people, prevent astronauts from damage by space radiation.
The second thing is also we want to develop kind of new biomaterials, not only to protect human beings, but also can make a coating material to protect spacecraft and also electronic equipment in space.
Third one, so we want to build up kind of, we can use the fungi to build up biomanufacturing facilities in space. So we can produce a lot of materials, biomaterials, medicine, even food in space. So we don’t need to transport these materials to space in the future. This will significantly reduce the cost.
I want to take this opportunity to thank NASA to provide us this great opportunity to fly our experiments to the Moon. And secondly, I’d also like to thank the US Naval Research Lab to provide us tremendous resources to allow us to explore deep and to think big.
Hi, I’m Zheng Wang. I’m Artemis!
There are no human passengers on Artemis I, but NASA’s Space Biology Program
Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps the latest space plant news and then talks about some of the seeds with space stories.
While we’re waiting for Tim Peake to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) to begin his Principia mission, I thought it might be fun to have a look at the first Briton in space – Helen Sharman, who was also the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in 1991.
One of the nerdy things I enjoy doing in my spare time is researching the first seeds to have made it into space. This is what I have found so far:
From the moment humans started to reach for the skies, we have used other species from Earth to test what’s safe and what happens to life away from its natural habitat on the planet’s surface.
Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma recaps important spacecraft Arrivals and Departures and learns about growing nutrients and medicines in space. There’s a new plant experiment running on the International Space Station, and exciting news from ESA.
Header image: NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat. Image credit: NASA
I imagine the Apollo 11 astronauts had plenty to do while they were hurtling towards the Moon, but from a bystander’s perspective it was probably pretty dull stuff. Still, it’s Day 3 of the mission, so let’s have a look at what they’ve got stashed away in their space age picnic basket.
At the beginning of the year, I set up a new mission in the AeroGarden, growing two peppers (Popti and Redskin) and a tomato (Veranda Red). Ten days later, I had two tomato seedlings, which I had to thin to one. The peppers were a bit slower, but by 19th January they had germinated (and been thinned) too.
Back in 2014, I bought some seeds that had been into space. They are cinnamon basil (Ocimum basilicum Cinnamon), still sealed into their space packet.
On 10th June, thousands of scientists worldwide went on strike, putting their research activities on hold for a day to reflect and take action on systemic inequalities in science. #ShutDownStem was part of the wider Black Lives Matter protests, forcing us to take a long, hard look at how systemic racism affects people of colour.
When it landed on the Moon, the Eagle lunar lander bore a plaque inscribed with the message “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” But Armstrong and Aldrin planted an American flag on the Moon. Initially it was thought that a United Nations flag would be better, because it wouldn’t imply that the US was claiming possession of the Moon – the United Nations Treaty on Outer Space prevents any territorial claims. So the flag-raising was strictly a symbolic activity, but Congress amended NASA’s appropriations bill to prevent astronauts from placing flags of other nations, or those of international associations, on the Moon during missions funded solely by the United States.
It’s common to hear Americans talk about their exciting experiences at Space Camp. It’s not often that students in the UK get to work with astronauts on a space experiment, but that’s exactly what’s on offer next summer at Mission Discovery – King’s College London 2023.