Rice and Lettuce being grown in Space
China has its very own space station called Tiangong Space Station, or TSS. Operated by CMSA, their orbiting station has been in orbit for about 500 days. While still under construction, active experiments are already being conducted by the Chinese space agency.
Plant experiments are key to feeding the crews on future long-journey space missions, and creating a sustainable diet for long journeys. Starting with plants with lower harvest times, the taikonauts have been sharing their results on twitter.
Besides rice, China is also growing lettuce on orbit, Taikonaut CAI Xuzhe shows off his lettuce plants he’s been growing on the Tiangong Station.
Moving beyond canned goods and freeze dried items, food grown on orbit will inhibit humanity to plan for long journey travel, like Mars.
About The Author
