#astrobotany — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #astrobotany, aggregated by home.social.
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In September, nitrogen-fixing bacteria will take a trip to space on a Brazilian suborbital flight.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/brazil-is-launching-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria-into-space/
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I'm actually a big fan of wild/alpine strawberries, and I would happily have them in my space garden.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/wild-strawberries-audition-as-a-future-space-crop/
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A few plants have evolved a trick to survive prolonged dessication, and that might prove useful in space.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/dead-and-gone-resurrection-plants-in-space/
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Astronauts on the ISS are currently involved in a "grow what you want, where you want" experiment, which should lead to more autonomous space gardening....
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/astronauts-get-to-pick-their-own-space-garden/
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The University of South Florida is taking a multidisciplinary approach to #astrobotany, which includes testing mangroves in space environments.
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Ooh, fun. The Plants4Space team has put together a (free, downloadable) book of recipes inspired by their space plants research.
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Latest Mission Report is now up on the blog. This edition includes French space gardeners, Indian zero-g veg, Chinese space cranberries and a bumper crop in Antarctica!
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Madison Square Park in midtown Manhattan is now home to a Moon tree – a young American sweet gum sapling that grew from a seed NASA sent around the Moon on the Artemis I mission.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/a-seed-that-flew-around-the-moon-grew-into-this-tree-in-nyc
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I know it has been a while, but it's Gardeners of the Galaxy's sixth birthday, so I thought I would celebrate with a new episode. It looks into the history… and future… of wine in space. Starting in a medieval toilet, and ending up on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, it’s a trip of a lifetime - buckle up and enjoy the ride!
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Turkish researchers have found that tough pioneer plants can help transform lunar and Martian regolith into something tomatoes can grow in.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/pioneer-plants-could-pave-the-way-for-space-tomatoes/
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South Africa is sending rooibos tea seeds to the International Space Station this autumn:
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/south-african-tea-seeds-prepare-for-launch/
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An ambitious mission to send a living vernal pool into space morphed into a seedy art project when the container leaked.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/seeds-a-letter-and-a-leak-the-story-behind-project-revive/
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"Much like terrestrial restaurants, future space-based systems will need to address food’s path from source to table, but with far more stringent requirements. This means meeting nutritional goals, easily producing food-safe ingredients in space, recycling inedible biomass and waste, and offering a culinarily delicious and culturally diverse menu."
https://cen.acs.org/food/food-science/space-exploration-astronaut-food-nutrition/104/web/2026/07
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New on the blog: a University of Turin study asked what will actually stop us growing crops on Mars. 🌽🔴
The answer isn't low gravity or the weak magnetic field – it's the soil.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/martian-soil-not-low-gravity-is-the-real-enemy-of-mars-grown-maize/
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🚀🌱 My latest Mission report has a plasma "Beam Saber" fertiliser inspired by Gundam that could grow rice on the Moon, NASA's poop-to-plant-food machine, a hyperspectral camera that spots thirsty lettuce before it wilts, tough desert moss surviving orbit, Hungarian seeds on a sounding rocket – and why astronauts might one day eat asteroid dust.
Read it here: https://spacebotany.uk/blog/mission-report-7-july-2026/
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An upcoming mission will send hundreds of grape seeds to the International Space Station.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/a-texas-heritage-grape-is-heading-for-the-space-station/
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My latest article for ESA Discovery and Preparation involves a project exploring whether it's possible to turn plant wastes into medical supplies and biocomposites for 3D printing in space:
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Interstellar Lab has officially unveiled Little Prince - their mission to send a flowering rose to the Moon.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/little-prince-a-rose-among-the-stars/
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Chia fed the Aztecs. Now it might feed astronauts. A new study tests chia microgreens against the cosmic radiation of deep space - and they hold up well. 🌱🚀
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/chia-microgreens-show-promising-resilience-to-space-like-radiation/
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Lupins! In space! Starbase Brewing sent seeds of Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) and other native Texas plants into orbit aboard SpaceX's new Starfall capsule on 23 June, along with dozens of yeast strains from around the world. They'll be analysing how the spaceflight environment affected them all. The brewery's longer-term ambition? Beer on Mars. 🚀🌱🍺
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Today I have learned about Proyecto Estratósfera, a series of Peruvian balloon missions that send seeds (and other payloads - including tardigrades!) into the stratosphere, where they are exposed to Martian-like conditions.
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You have to love a Sunday morning rabbit hole. Whatever happened to the Russian Lada space greenhouse? Good question!
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À bord de l’ISS, Sophie Adenot va mener l'expérience éducative ChlorISS, au cours de laquelle elle va faire pousser des plantes en micropesanteur. Les graines l’ont rejointe à bord ce mardi 14 avril.
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In the latest edition of the Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report, you can read about the wild strawberries headed for the ISS, plants growing medicines in space, Indian space cowpeas and fungi for Mars farming.
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The Shenzhou-23 mission commander says his crew will continue growing tomatoes, wheat and mint during their time on Tiangong, and throw carrots into the mix.
Oh, and he packed some petunia seeds. Just for funsies.
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An experiment launched on China's Shenzhou-23 mission aims to grow two consecutive generations of rice seeds in orbit.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/chinas-shenzhou-23-mission-to-grow-two-generations-of-rice-in-orbit/
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After nearly a decade aboard the ISS, NASA's Advanced Plant Habitat is coming home. The largest and most sophisticated plant growth facility ever flown in space will return to Earth on CRS-34 in June, destined eventually for museum display.
The APH grew everything from Arabidopsis to chile peppers, and transformed what we know about growing plants in space.
Later this year, Ohalo III is scheduled to pick up where it left off.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/end-of-an-era-nasas-advanced-plant-habitat-is-coming-home/
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Three gradute students have just sent watercress to the International Space Station, to investigate how microgravity affects its germination and growth.
Numerous student experiments involve germinating plants, but the advisor for this one is Sarah Wyatt, who has conducted a number of studies involving plants in space.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/ohio-university-students-send-watercress-experiment-to-the-iss/
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A new research facility designed to simulate the conditions of space habitats has opened in Dübendorf, Switzerland, operating under the European Space Agency’s Ground-Based Facility programme.
The facility’s research scope spans plant biology, microbial systems, bioregenerative life support, and the testing of technologies intended for future lunar and Martian habitats.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/switzerland-opens-a-new-space-farming-research-facility/
