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The Future Of Plants: Growing In Space
Why is plant growth in space so important?
Due to an alarming rate in environmental concerns and global warming becoming increasingly pressing each year, scientists believe that the earth will become inhabitable in about a billion years or so. Although this is a long time to come, if these environmental concerns are not addressed urgently, it is extremely possible for weathers and natural disasters to become more and more extreme each year. Which can be dangerous for us humans, and so scientists are deciding to already do more research about living in space. Which is where growing plants in outer space takes place.
So, why grow plants in outer space? It’s quite simple and even today very important for astronauts. Plant growth in space is crucial for providing life support for astronauts by producing oxygen and food whilst enabling deep space exploration of our galaxy. Not only are they good food sources, space grown plants can have very unique properties. Such as better nutrient absorption and being extremely sustainable: essential for long-duration missions or even potential space colonization. Furthermore, plants are helpful in waste recycling. Economically, resupplying into spaceships is expensive and limited. So scientists are trying their best to maintain a long term and renewable food source without needing to constantly spend money or releasing carbon footprint with each delivery. Overall, this research paper will summarize current findings on how plants grow in micro-gravity and the technologies scientists use to support space farming.
The Background: Plants and Space
So… how do plants really grow in space? This comes with multiple factors such as, how water is distributed, how they receive light and how they can survive in such atmospheric conditions. However scientists have found just the ways to deal with such challenges even when not all has been fully understood.
Microgravity: Microgravity is one of the biggest problems to face as it affects how plants grow and the yield of crops according to gravitropism. An early experiment called PESTO found that microgravity could alter a leaf’s development, plant cells and chloroplast used in photosynthesis. This is because stems and roots rely on gravitropism. One way plants do sense gravity is via changes in calcium within their cells. Discovered by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) which helped scientists in designing better ways to grow food in space. To solve this scientists designed specialized growth chambers for the ISS called the APH (Advanced Plant Habitat). They came up with the solution where they used lights as a guide where plants can use Phototropism. Allowing primary guides for the shoots and the roots in turn to naturally grow away from the light.
Light and Photosynthesis in Space: Now that we know how concentrated LED lights are used in these APH (such as helping with overcoming microgravity), now we need to know how problems such as lack of sunlight for photosynthesis are overcome. Red and Blue LED lights are common in space for growing plants. This is because the wavelengths are what plants use most efficiently for photosynthesis. Blue light promotes leafy, vegetative growth such as Chinese cabbages whilst red light stimulates flowering and fruiting plants such as Zinnia Flowers. Moreover, LEDs are energy efficient since the plants are not reflecting green light and converting it into heat.
Water and Nutrient Delivery: Another huge problem to address is how we can water plants in space when in microgravity the water practically floats. Especially in plants where the water’s surface tension is stronger than gravity’s pull and so water doesn’t flow down. Instead, they form bubbles and cling to roots, creating a soggy bubble of water in soil and suffocating the roots by blocking access to oxygen. To solve this, scientists have created a special invention called the “Plant Pillows”. They do not use regular potted soil, instead they use these Plant Pillows, which are bags containing a porous, clay based material (like arcillite) and a controlled-release fertilizer. This material is designed to hold both water and air in a stable mixture/ equal distribution, allowing roots to get both hydration and oxygen without drowning. Water is carefully injected directly into these pillows.
Radiation effects: A dangerous factor that could kill is the radiation in space. Primarily from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPEs). This high energy radiation is far more intense than on Earth where our atmosphere and magnetic field protects us. Because of these radiations it can cause DNA damage on the plants. Leading to mutations and genetic errors that can kill the cell and stop it from reproducing. Exposure to high radiation may also stunt growth with shorter roots, smaller seedlings and deformed leaves. There is no single solution to this, so, scientists used a layered defense strategy, combining both physical shielding and clever biology. The first solution is the physical shielding. In the ISS the hulls are already equipped inside and provide a significant amount of passive shielding. Plant habitats like Veggie are placed in the most protected parts of the station. The biological fix is instead of just trying to block radiation, scientists are choosing plants that can protect themselves. They select varieties that are naturally high in antioxidants such as ‘Outredgeous’ red romaine lettuce, kale, and berries. These antioxidant compounds act as a natural, internal ‘sunscreen’ that can neutralize harmful radiation-induced particles, protecting the plant’s cells.
Future Applications: Growing plants in space can be applicable in various ways in the future. For example, we will be able to develop a self sustaining greenhouse for Mars and the Moon. Such as NASA’s “Mars Dune Alpha” habitat experiments where they simulate growing lettuces and radishes in Martian-like soil and low gravity conditions. Giving us hope in future colonies on Mars that could be semi-independent in producing fresh food and oxygen on site. Furthermore, this idea of growing plants in space helps to develop the genetic engineering of space-resilient crops. Not only does this benefit astronauts, but we can also implement these genetic editing to Earth’s crop to be more adapted in deserts or polluted areas. Inspiring farming solutions for Eart;s future cities.
So now that we have much more knowledge about how plants are grown in space, this further proves how space plant research doesn’t just prepare us for life beyond Earth, it teaches us how to sustain life on Earth itself. Although we have learned a lot, there are still many big challenges to face. Such as scaling up to feed whole crews would still be difficult. However, as research continues, the importance of plants still remains. Without plants, it would be impossible to achieve such things we do now. Which is why we should continue catering and taking care of our greeneries.
Source:
NASA (n.d.) Growing Plants in Space. Available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/exploration-research-and-technology/growing-plants-in-space/
(Accessed: 29 October 2025).
NASA (n.d.) Station Science 101: Plant Research. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/ways-the-international-space-station-helps-us-study-plant-growth-in-space/
(Accessed: 29 October 2025).
Al Murad, M., Razi, K., Jeong, B.R., Samy, P.M.A. & Muneer, S. (2021) ‘Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as Agricultural Lighting: Impact and Its Potential on Improving Physiology, Flowering, and Secondary Metabolites of Crops’, Sustainability, 13(4), p. 1985. doi: 10.3390/su13041985.
NASA (n.d.) NASA Mars-analog crew to test food systems & crop growth. Available at:
(Accessed: 29 October 2025).
NASA (n.d.) Advanced Plant Habitat. Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/advanced-plant-habitat/
(Accessed: 29 October 2025).
WRITTEN BY:
Arucha Boomyam (Lalla)
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