Plant cultivation is a fundamental part of the human exploration of space and of research for future missions and visits to Mars. Now, a team led by Spanish scientists will seek the keys to adapting plants to the absence of gravity.
The experiment, called Seedling Growth-3, is part of the International Space Station's SpaceX-11 mission, to be launched on 1 June from Cape Canaveral in the United States.
The objective is to study the viability of plant cultivation as a support for the human exploration of space.
The project is co-directed by the researcher of the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) Javier Medina, of the Centre for Biological Research.
Medina explains that "this experiment, the result of a collaboration between European and North American research groups, is the third and last of a series whose objective is to learn the effects of the absence of gravity on the development of plants, in order to make it possible to cultivate plant species of interest in a spatial environment."
The researcher adds that the cultivation of plants is essential to support the human exploration of space and, specifically, to facilitate the presence of humans on Mars.
The experiment consists in sending thousands of seeds of the plant species Arabidopsis thaliana to the ISS.
It is a plant related to cabbage, turnip, radish and mustard, which is used on a recurring basis in research, since there is a lot of data about it available, including its entire genome.
Javier Medina clarifies that "this plant is easy to manipulate and to cultivate, making it possible to obtain a lot of biological data in a much easier manner than with species of agricultural interest, to which the information obtained from this model species will be later applied."
The adaptation of plants to zero gravity
The environmental conditions of space, especially the absence of gravity, are a source of stress for plants comparable to salinity, drought, cold and heat.
The project will therefore use methods similar to those used in research on the response of plants to climate change on Earth.
It is not the first experiment to try something of the sort. US researchers were able to grow lettuce a few months ago in the ISS; lettuce that, in fact, the astronauts themselves ate.
However, according to Medina, that experiment was very risky and caused a "scientific short circuit", because although the plant grew, they did not know the reason.
And that is the aim of this research. "Plants can grow without gravity. But we must know why."
And the fact is that the biological keys of the adaptation of plants to life in an environment like the International Space Station are still unknown.
What is known is that gravity is an essential factor for the development of plants, and numerous studies corroborate important alterations at the cellular and molecular level induced by weightlessness.
Therefore, knowledge of the biological mechanisms of adaptation is essential to ensure plant cultivation in space can be carried out without uncertainties, in a systematic, reliable and productive way.
According to the Spanish researcher, "the Seedling Growth project, in its successive stages, is analysing the role of light in these mechanisms of adaptation, with satisfactory results so far, and the goal is to consolidate this knowledge and expand it in this third stage."
An international team
The CSIC researcher Javier Medina leads a European team, which includes two French laboratories.
On the North American part, the project is directed by the University of North Carolina.
Moreover, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the North American (NASA) support and manage the experiments of the project in the ISS.
The Seedling Growth-3 experiment makes use of Spanish space technology, and the analysis of samples at the CIB is funded by Spain's State R&D&I Plan.
The preservation of the samples for analysis on Earth will be carried out with the instrument FixBox, designed and built by the company Sener S.A. with funding from the ESA.
Source: revistadearte.com
