Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report: 6 August 2024
Your weekly round-up of astrobotany news and adventure. This week we've got a new plant experiment on its way to the ISS, a proposed biorepository on the Moon, astrobotany jobs and upcoming events!
Hello, Gardeners of the Galaxy! Welcome to this week's Mission Report.
I’m currently recovering from the ‘flu, so apologies if this week’s newsletter is less coherent than usual! Ryan and I watched the NG-21 launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday and saw APEX-09 safely on its way. So we know there’s at least one plant experiment on the horizon! Sierra Space also posted on X that their APH Facility Support team has sent “essential parts” to the ISS on NG-21, “in preparation for ongoing Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) studies”.
APEX-09 will use the MultispeQ 2.0 device for capturing plant photosynthetic data. The measuring device has been approved for spaceflight after extensive product research, testing, and verification. It seamlessly integrates the capabilities of a handheld fluorometer, a chlorophyll meter, and a bench-top spectrometer.
Upcoming Launches
NASA’s Crew 9 launch to the ISS is currently scheduled for (no earlier than) 18th August.
The commercial Polaris Dawn mission will take place after that, launch date tbc.
Ax-4, the second private spaceflight to the ISS is expected to launch in October 2024. ESA has just announced that Polish project astronaut Sławosz Uznański will be a mission specialist on that flight, alongside Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Shubhanshu Shukla from India will be the pilot, and Axiom Space’s chief astronaut Peggy Whitson will command the mission.
In other news…
NASA is looking into the use of ionic silver as a disinfectant for astronaut drinking water, and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has completed a study on plant tolerance to the substance in irrigation water.
On long-duration spaceflight missions, astronauts and space-grown vegetables could get their water from the same source, but there are indications that ionic silver can adversely affect plant metabolism. In a study titled, “Effect(s) of Residual Water System Silver Biocide on Space Crop Microbiome and Nutrient Content,” scientists helped determine whether plants can tolerate high concentrations of ionic silver or if it’s necessary to remove the substance from irrigation water.
The team found out that providing a buffer (that normally isn’t found in the hydroponic system which waters plants) with an arcillite substrate really does matter.
Read more: Effect(s) of Residual Water System Silver Biocide on Space Crop Microbiome and Nutrient Content
An international team of researchers is proposing a lunar biorepository, a passive, long-lasting storage facility for cryopreserved samples of Earth’s most at-risk animal species, from elephants and great cats to plankton, pollinators and mosses.
Read more: WANTED: A LUNAR REPOSITORY FOR LIFE (the Guardian’s article has better artwork!)
The latest episode of the Australian Space Agency’s podcast “Outback to Orbit” is on astrobotany, and features Professor Matthew Gilliham (The University of Adelaide / Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space) and Lauren Fell (Lunaria One).
Listen now: Cosmic Gardening
Jobs
The University of Melbourne is looking for a Research Fellow in Astrobotany! Join ongoing research to re-domesticate fruiting plants, initially focusing on strawberries, to optimise harvest index in soil-less systems for space environments. You will design, breed, transform, and phenotype plant systems for space habitation. This role also involves selecting and crossing natural Earth populations combined with genetic modification to develop complete-use plants.
Find out more: Research Fellow in Astrobotany
And the University of Adelaide is recruiting a Law & Ethics researcher to join the Plants for Space Team. The role involves developing and refining legal and ethical frameworks to support groundbreaking Plants for Space activities, crafting clear guidelines that ensure projects are safe, compliant, and cutting-edge in today's rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
Find out more: ARC Grant-Funded Researcher A-Plants for Space (Law and Ethics)
Events
You can now pre-register to attend the 2024 Space Ecology Workshop, which is taking place online on 11 & 12 October. The same form is also accepting submissions for presentations.
Register now: Space Ecology Workshop
And the program for the upcoming ELGRA conference in Liverpool is now available from the conference website.
The Guardian has an interview with astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center at the Seti [Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence] Institute.
Read more: Astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol: ‘I believe Mars still has some big surprises for us’
Six artists spent six months painting the accurate backdrop of Earth used in the Apollo command module simulator. BBC Culture took a look back at the relentless simulations for the recent Apollo 11 anniversary.
Read more: Apollo 11 launch: 'If you can survive the simulations, the mission is a piece of cake'
Astronaut ice-cream turns fifty, and remains a popular novelty item, even if it hasn’t actually flown in space.
Read more: Astronaut ice cream still popular at 50, even if it never flew in space
French performance artist Abraham Poincheval has sealed himself into a giant glass bottle for the duration of the Olympics. It includes a small wind turbine, solar panels for light and ventilation and a compost toilet.
Read more: French Performance Artist Seals Himself in a Giant Bottle for Ten Days Outside Paris’ Olympic Stadium
Researchers have found that a unique species of marine bacteria is just as effective at fertilizing agricultural soils as mineral fertilizers that are over-applied to croplands worldwide. And these bacteria could do it with a fraction of the environmental cost that these other conventional fertilizers impose on the land.
Read more: For sustainable food production on land, we might soon be looking to the sea
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed hydrogel-infused soil that can capture water out of thin air to keep plants hydrated and manage controlled release of fertilizer for a constant supply of nutrients.
Read more: Smart soil can water and feed itself
We’ve seen a couple of reports recently on scientists using black solider flies as part of their efforts to turn regolith into fertile soil. Now a team based at Sydney’s Macquarie University is genetically engineering them to eat more of humanity’s organic waste while producing ingredients for making everything from lubricants and biofuels to high-grade animal feeds.
Read more: Australian scientists genetically engineer common fly species to eat more of humanity’s waste
Light Bio has received approval from the United States Department of Agriculture to sell its glow-in-the-dark plants in all 48 states of the US. Although currently limited to green petunias, the company expects to have more species, glowing in more colours, available soon.
Read more: A Glowing Plant Could Be Your New Night Lamp for $29
Thirty-four dairy cows living on a floating farm are part of a larger Europe-wide effort to combat water scarcity. The Floating Farm is based on the principles of the circular economy in which resources are reused rather than discarded, aiming for self-sufficiency in both energy and water consumption. It aims to reprocess the cow’s urine into clean drinking water and plant nutrients. The cows eat grass from Rotterdam's football stadium and orange peels from supermarket juicing machines and the milk and yogurts produced are sold to Rotterdam residents.
Read more: Every last drop: Zero-waste water builds water resilience
AramcoWorld has a lovely feature on the dates growing in California’s Coachella Valley, the USDA’s agricultural explorers that brought them to the US and the signature milkshake treat that has been popular since the 1920s.
Read more: America’s Arabian Superfood
Botanist Nadia Mohd-Radzman wants people in the UK to understand the benefits of the humble broad bean, which contains chemicals that are linked to lasting improvements in mental health.
Read more: Broad beans could be the cure to Britain’s blues, says Cambridge research scientist
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Ex solo ad astra,
Emma (Space Gardener)