Who would have thought the plot from Matt Damon’s 2015 film The Martian would be a reality? While growing a plant on Mars or in space seems nearly impossible, considering the environmental conditions, we are already making our way into the future and inching closer to making new advancements in space research. Now, NASA has shocked the world with its latest discovery.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has piqued everyone with a new image of a beautiful flower that grew in the most unusual circumstances.
NASA shared a gorgeous image of a zinnia flower grown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Veggie facility. Zinnia is a light-orange flower that appeared in full bloom in the viral Instagram picture.
Sharing the picture, NASA called it the ‘Space Flower’ and asserted “Our space garden isn't just for show.”
On January 16, 2016, Scott Kelly, who was the commander of Expedition 46, shared pictures of the same zinnia flower in the Veggie plant growth system aboard the ISS.
In the Veggie plant experiment, researchers aimed at flowering a crop and the process began on November 16, 2015.
NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren activated the Veggie system and its "rooting pillows" containing zinnia seeds, as part of efforts to better understand how plants grow in microgravity.
As per the reports, Zinnia seeds were carefully chosen on purpose as growing this plant is a challenging process, and this experiment served as an opportunity for scientists to practise autonomous gardening, which they may have to perform during deep space missions in the future.
Some of my space flowers are on the rebound! No longer looking sad! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/HJzXaTItIf
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) January 8, 2016
Kelly, on seeing the plants in late December 2015, said that the plants were not looking good and informed the ground team that the space crops should be handled the same way one would handle the plants in their backyard.
The Veggie team on Earth then created a guide that provided the basic guidelines for taking care of zinnia plants in orbit. Kelly followed these rules, and by January 2016, some of his space flowers were "on the rebound", and were "no longer looking sad", the astronaut wrote on Twitter.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS IN SPACE?
It’s simple, sustainability during future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. While there are many other reasons for the process, this remains the most important.
To elaborate, sustainability means astronauts now can grow food crops in space to find ways to sustain future explorers for long-duration space missions. Since packaged foods lead to increased weight of the launch vehicle, and deteriorate when stored for longer durations, food crops are grown in space to ensure that the nutritional requirements of astronauts and cosmonauts are met.
Packaged foods have reduced Vitamin C and Vitamin K, but space crops can provide these nutrients to crew members. They can sustain future crews on the Moon and Mars.
‘Plants In Space’ is a subject and it has been studied since the 1970s, but the Veggie experiment started in 2015 marked the first time plants were grown in space.
Image Source: Instagram/NASA