By Annelies Gartner
Autonomous agriculture created for space exploration has spin-off benefits on Earth where climate change is affecting crop growth and yield and compelling farmers to find innovative ways to adapt.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space node at The University of Western Australia is led by three WA Scientist of the Year Award winners including Professor Harvey Millar, Professor Ryan Lister and Professor Ian Small, all from the School of Molecular Sciences.
Image: Professor Harvey Millar.
The project team is researching fast-growing, zero-waste, ‘pick and eat’ plants designed for long-term survival in space, and engineering plants as biofactories for useful medicines and materials in remote environments.
The findings can benefit growers on Earth where climate events and an increasing population are driving demand for global food and nutritional security, plant-derived products, and the need for a reduced carbon footprint.
Professor Millar, Director of the UWA Centre for Plant Energy, said researchers were working with UWA’s International Space Centre to use high CO2 simulated plant growth chambers, hydroponic growth systems and camera systems to monitor how algorithms used to predict plant growth would perform under conditions expected in space stations.
“Growing plants as food in space stations or a future lunar base requires robust processes to ensure crops are available on-time and in the expected quantity to meet demand,” Professor Millar said.
“We aim to create new commercial options for automating plant growth at scale in space and on Earth.
“We will develop plant varieties and production systems for pick-and-eat plants like water spinach, tomatoes and strawberries.
“We’ll also develop food plants for long-term space nutrition using duckweeds, which are one of the fastest growing plants.”
While long-term off-Earth habitation is on the horizon, growers on Earth are already being impacted by floods, drought and rising temperatures and need help to develop sustainable alternatives.
Image: Professor Ryan Lister and Professor Ian Small.
“The centre’s mission goes beyond food, we aim to design biobank plants that provide medicines, plant-based building materials, and sustainable solutions both on and off Earth,” Professor Small said.
“Many of the challenges needed for long-term life on Moon and Mars are also faced by agriculture on Earth and need to be researched to advance the efficiency of plant-based foods for example increasing fertiliser use efficiency.
“The impact extends beyond scientific innovation – it is helping shape future careers in the space, agriculture and food industries, as well as in sustainability, and cultivating a workforce ready for tomorrow’s challenges.”
The team is working to develop ‘complete nutrition’ plants that could sustain human health in space for an entire year.
“The success of these missions depends on having medicine and nutritious food without the need for resupply missions from Earth,” Professor Lister said.
“Requiring light, water, carbon dioxide, and minimal nutrients, plants are the ultimate solar-powered bio-factories for supporting human nutrition and health, as well as production of useful medicines and materials.
“Creating methods to breed and modify plants for space exploration could just be the answer to providing long-term solution for human nutritional wellbeing, and a secure and sustainable agriculture sector here on Earth.”
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