Chili can not be eaten directly by astronauts. Chilies are sent back to Earth for further study to make them completely safe for consumption.
JAKARTA – Food supply becomes one of the challenges during long stays in space. This prompted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to take the initiative to plant plants in space to support long-term missions to the Moon and Mars. The hope is that astronauts can pick and eat their own crops.
Chief Researcher for the NASA International Space Station Research Office at the Kennedy Space Center, Howard Levine, said astronauts are very happy to be gardening in space. This is because they can carry out new activities other than carrying out the duties of the International Space Station (ISS).
Currently, NASA plans to grow chilies over the next four months. Chili is a vegetable that is rich in vitamin C and contains other nutrients that can help meet the additional nutritional needs of astronauts.
In addition, the researchers also wanted to know whether chili peppers will experience a change in taste when grown in a room with low gravity.
Earlier in November 2020, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins photographed the Plant Habitat-02 experiment to study the growth of turnips when grown in a low-gravity environment. NASA chose turnips as experimental plants because they are edible and nutritious.
In addition, radishes also have a short cultivation time and are genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant often used in microgravity research.
Grown in the Advance Plant Habitat for 27 days, turnips require little care from astronauts. The planting room is equipped with LED lights, porous clay material, and a system that controls the application of fertilizer, water, nutrients, and oxygen to plants.
The planting room is also equipped with cameras with more than 180 sensors so researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Florida can monitor its growth.
However, after harvesting, the radishes were not eaten by astronauts immediately. Radishes are sent back to Earth for further study to be completely safe for consumption.
This is because NASA has previously planted red romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, kale, wasabi, zinnia, lentils, mustard, and algae in space. As a result, some plants cannot be consumed even though they are fully grown.
So far, astronauts on the ISS generally eat packaged food sent via space cargo. However, its nutrition and quality will decline in 18 months.
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