Space-borne gardens

The prospect of growing food in space and being somewhat self-sufficient for long voyages, possibly even to another inhabitable planet, is a tantalizing idea.

Seeds of several crops have been grown in microgravity before and since 2002 there has actually been a greenhouse aboard the space station.

The Lada greenhouse was developed as a cooperative effort between Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University and Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems. Named for the ancient Russian goddess of spring, the wall-mounted unit has been in use in the Zvezda module of the space station since it was delivered aboard a Russian Progress spacecraft.

The sweet potato slips are the first test for plants grown from cuttings. The vegetable was chosen because cuttings regenerate very easily. A control group remained on earth at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the five-day experiment.

The roots grown in microgravity tended to grow perpendicular to the cuttings and their length was significantly greater. They contained significant accumulation of soluble sugars and higher starch concentration than ground-grown cuttings and the starch grains appeared smaller in microgravity samples.

The results were favorable for future space applications and the next step will be to experiment over longer space missions.

Worms are on the liftoff list for October. Researchers will be investigating the effect of zero gravity on the body’s muscle development and physiology through these invertebrates. The worms will spend about two weeks in the Japanese Kibo laboratory onboard the International Space Station before returning to earth.

The origins of these worms can be traced back to a rubbish dump in Bristol where they often feed on bacteria that develop on decaying vegetable matter. In space they will be fed bacteria that have been heat inactivated. The same species survived the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Living in petri dishes and enclosed in aluminium canisters, the worms survived re-entry and impact on the ground and were recovered weeks after the disaster.

Late last fall astronauts monitored experiments with web-spinning spiders and wannabe butterflies. Scientists wanted to know how "space" spiders differ from Earth spiders in web spinning and feeding. The second experiment charted the life cycle of butterflies in the low gravity of space -- from larvae to pupa to butterfly to egg -- and compared it with that of earthbound butterflies.

Studying these tiny space-borne gardens and creatures are broadening our knowledge of weightlessness and its effects. And during the process, astronauts are undoubtedly reaping a few positive psychological benefits that come from being intergalactic gardeners with a touch of life from home.