What scientists learned from growing crops in space

Researchers from Nasa Kennedy Space Centre and partner institutions Noetic Strategies, Amentum, Bennett Aerospace and Sierra Space have published the first microbial analysis of crops grown in a substrate-free system aboard the International Space Station.

The study, ‘Microbial community characterisation of multi-crop growouts in the XROOTS aeroponic-hydroponic system on the International Space Station,’ led by Christina L. M. Khodadad and colleagues, examined lettuce, mizuna mustard, wheat, radish, tomato and pea plants grown in the eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS). Here’s what they found about the microbes living on and in these space-grown crops. No human pathogens, including E. coli, Salmonella or Staphylococcus aureus, were detected in any of the crop samples screened.

XROOTS is an aeroponic-hydroponic nutrient delivery system developed by Sierra Space to test whether crops could be grown without soil or other solid media, a method that could reduce the cargo mass needed for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

Launched to the ISS in February 2022, the system used a combination of aerosol misting and nutrient-solution flow to deliver water directly to plant roots across four growouts between June and October 2022. Researchers harvested mature tissue from mizuna mustard, radish and lettuce in growout two, wheat and lettuce in growout three, and pea and tomato plants that were grown through to fruiting by growout four.

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