SpaceX launches tomato seeds and other supplies to the Space Station

SpaceX is flying a new shipment of supplies to the International Space Station this weekend after bad weather at the launch site forced the company to scrap its first attempt on Tuesday.

The mission lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at around 4:20 p.m. [horário de Brasília] on Saturday (26).

The abundance of supplies on board includes a pair of new solar panels for the space station, dwarf tomato seeds and a host of science experiments.

There will also be treats for the astronauts on the space station like ice cream and Thanksgiving food like spicy green beans, apple cranberry desserts, pumpkin pie and sweet corn.

Solar panels will be installed outside the floating laboratory during spacewalks scheduled for November 29 and December 3. They will give the space station an energy boost.

SpaceX has launched more than two dozen resupply missions to the space station over the past decade as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with NASA.

This launch comes amid the company’s busiest year to date, with more than 50 operations to date, including two astronaut missions.

Cargo on board includes various health-related items such as the Moon Microscope kit. The handheld microscope will allow astronauts to collect and send images of blood samples to flight surgeons on the ground for diagnosis and treatment.

tomatoes in space

Nutrients are a key component to maintaining good health in space. But fresh produce is scarce on the space station compared to the prepackaged meals astronauts eat during their six-month stays in low Earth orbit.

“It is quite important for our exploration goals at NASA to be able to support the crew not only with nutrition, but also to look at various types of plants as sources of nutrients that we would struggle to sustain on the long journeys between distant destinations like Mars and so on. forward,” said Kirt Costello, NASA’s ISS Program Chief Scientist and deputy manager of the Office of Research Integration.

Astronauts grew and tasted different types of lettuce, radishes and peppers on the International Space Station. Now, crew members can add some dwarf tomatoes — specifically, Red Robin tomatoes — to their list of space-grown salad ingredients.

The experiment is part of an effort to provide continuous production of fresh food in space. Dwarf tomato seeds will be grown under two different light treatments to measure their impact on how many tomatoes can be harvested, as well as the nutritional value and flavor of the plants.

Red Robin tomatoes will also be grown on Earth as a control experiment. The two crops will be compared to measure the effects of the zero gravity environment on tomato growth.

The space tomatoes will be grown inside little bags called plant pads installed in the Plant Production System, known as the Plant Growth Chamber, on the space station.

Astronauts frequently water and nurture the plants as they grow, as well as pollinate the flowers. “Tomatoes will be a new adventure for us on the Veggie team, trying to figure out how to keep these thirsty plants well watered without overwatering,” said Gioia Massa, NASA space crop production scientist and principal investigator of the tomato study.

The tomatoes will be ready for the first taste test in the spring.

The team expects three tomato harvests 90, 97 and 104 days after the plants start to grow. During taste tests, the team will evaluate the taste, aroma, juiciness and texture of tomatoes grown with the two different light treatments. Half of each tomato harvest will be frozen and returned to Earth for analysis.

Growing plants on the space station not only provides the opportunity for fresh food and creative taco nights, it can also improve the crew’s mood during their long space flight. Astronauts will also take surveys to monitor their moods while caring for and interacting with plants to see how caring for seedlings improves their experience amidst the isolation and confinement of the space station.

The hardware is still under development for increased agricultural production on the space station and eventually on other planets, but scientists are already planning which plants might grow best on the Moon and Mars.

Earlier this year, a team successfully grew plants in lunar soil that included samples collected during the Apollo missions. “Tomatoes will be a great crop for the moon,” Massa said. “They’re very nutritious, very delicious, and we think astronauts will be very excited to grow them there.”