The Challenges of Growing Plants in Space

Sustained space travel and colonization will depend on the ability to grow food in extra-terrestrial environments. The fact that plants evolved on earth with cues from gravity, photoperiod, barometric pressure and other signals means that plants growing on space stations or other planets will face unique stresses, never previously encountered. Add to this the challenges of watering plants in microgravity, a dependence on artificial lighting, and limited access to crop protection and fertilization strategies, and the ability to produce crops in space is a realistic limiter of long-term human colonization of space. Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul has studied plant biology in space and in extreme earth environments to learn about how plants adapt to these challenges, and even how humans might have to adapt to care for them.