The International Space Station (ISS) astronauts are aiming to grow the first-ever peppers in space. They will grow these peppers via the Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) experiment.
PH-04 will grow ‘Espanola Improved’ New Mexico Hatch Green Chiles. As per NASA these medium-heat chile peppers have been suitable for use in controlled growing environments.
In April this year, the pepper seeds were planted and sent to the ISS on SpaceX’s 22nd Commercial Refueling Services (CRS-22) mission.
The ISS astronauts will grow the plants for four months in the ‘advanced plant habitat’ (APH). As it contains more than 180 sensors and can regulate temperature, moisture levels, carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere.
According to NASA, the growth habitat is mostly autonomous. It sends data from the sensors to scientists on the ground at Kennedy Space Center.
NASA and Chile pepper experiment
This experiment will help NASA in enabling long-duration deep-space exploration. They will be requiring adequate food supply for the same. Peppers are a good source of nutrients.
PH-04 experiment will also record whether elements like texture and flavor change when the peppers are grown in space.
Also, there is a growing interest among people when it comes to develop new novel concepts for feeding people in space.
Apart from food, NASA is also studying the impact of long time stay in space on humans and animals. It will further help in understanding the possibilities of exploring space for survival.
When it comes to space a lot of factors come into picture. Microgravity is one of them. How it affects humans and animals and what possibilities it holds for the future is of greater interest to space scientists.
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