Radish Experiment Ready for Launch

From the creator

As we prepare to send humans back to the Moon and on to Mars, the need for astronauts to grow fresh food in space is greater than ever. Plant Habitat-02, or PH-02, is an experiment launching on Northrop Grumman’s 14th resupply mission to the International Space Station. Lifting off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, PH-02 will study the growth of radishes inside the space station’s Advanced Plant Habitat – an enclosed growth chamber that lets us study how plants behave in a microgravity environment. The way the chamber works requires little maintenance from the crew. It uses LED lights, a porous clay material and a controlled release of fertilizer to deliver water, nutrients and oxygen to the plant’s roots. Inside the chamber are cameras and more than 180 sensors, providing a constant stream of contact to researchers at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Things like water distribution, atmosphere content, moisture levels and temperatures are all automated. The successful growth of radishes will help us better understand what it takes to grow a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in space – something that astronauts need to not only remain healthy, but also to remind them of home.

Published 2020-09-29 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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