Microbiological and Nutritional Analysis of Lettuce Crops Grown on the International Space Station

Hardware Validation of the Advanced Plant Habitat on ISS: Canopy Photosynthesis in Reduced Gravity

“…Larger plant growth systems are required to overcome the remaining challenges in spaceflight plant research. These challenges are to develop and demonstrate the performance of substrate-free, gravity-independent, water delivery systems to safely grow salad crops in reduced gravity environments for supplementing crew diets (Massa et al, 2015;Anderson et al, 2017;Khodadad et al, 2020).…”

“…NASA recently developed two new plant research facilities, Veggie and the APH, for conducting spaceflight plant research on ISS as recommended by the NRC Decadal Survey Study "Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era" (National Research Council, 2011). These facilities have larger plant growth areas (∼0.2 m 2 ) and volumes than previous platforms, and are designed for studying crop production, plant-to-plant interactions, and human-plant-microbial ecosystems using large plants in space (Massa et al, 2016;Khodadad et al, 2020). Veggie uses LED lights, a passive watering system and minimal environmental control consisting of a fan to circulate ISS air through the plant growth volume.…”

“…Veggie uses LED lights, a passive watering system and minimal environmental control consisting of a fan to circulate ISS air through the plant growth volume. Recently, the Veggie was used to grow nutritious lettuce crops that are safe to eat on ISS (Khodadad et al, 2020). In contrast, the APH facility is a research, plant growth chamber that can grow plants under complete environmental control (i.e., spectral quality, light intensity, temperature, relative humidity, CO 2 and ethylene concentration) for life cycles as long as 135 days (Morrow et al, 2016).…”

Molecular Pharming to Support Human Life on the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

“…Plants are an established facet of space mission architecture, with research dating back to the 1950s 27 . Most recently, a study on red romaine lettuce grown in the International Space Station (ISS) using the Vegetable Production System (Veggie) has reported that leafy vegetable crops can be grown and consumed safely in the ISS as a dietary supplement 28 .…”

“…Resource flexibility is essential in the confined environments of a space mission, and researchers have shown that plants serve as versatile assets in a space mission life support system. Up to this point, studies have focused on the value of plants to harness solar energy and provide nutrie nts, water treatment, air treatment, and behavioral health [27][28][29][30][31] . Accordingly, research into advancing the capabilities of plants for space has primarily focused on those key areas.…”