Don Pettit has shared some photos of his latest (2025) unorthodox space plant experiment - Spudnik-1! It has provoked some unhinged reactions from people who don't know what a sprouting potato looks like!!!
Image credits: Don Pettit/NASA. More details on the blog: https://spacebotany.uk/blog/spudnik-1-don-pettit-reveals-his-iss-potato-experiment/
This is an interesting one - a small-scale, student-led series of high-altitude balloon experiments to build a functioning greenhouse system for space plants. The CO2 needed is provided by fungal mycelium.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/can-high-flying-fungi-help-plants-breathe-in-space/
Researchers have done some interesting work exploring how well tardigrades can survive in Martian regolith simulants - and found a simple trick can improve its livability.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/what-water-bears-tell-us-about-growing-plants-on-mars/
An update on the Hungarian VITAPRIC experiment to grow microgreens in space - the plant samples have finally made it back home!
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/hungarys-space-grown-microgreens-return-to-earth/
Women-led research has just grown chickpeas from seed to seed in simulated lunar regolith. The trick is to think like a gardener, and let composting worms and friendly fungi lend a hand.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/fungi-worms-and-chickpeas-growing-food-in-lunar-regolith/
Astronauts on the Chinese space station Tiangong have released a video of their aeroponic tomatoes for Lunar New Year:
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/space-tomatoes-for-lunar-new-year/
Crew-12 have (at least) 3 plant experiments on their docket for their mission on the International Space Station - Project Rapunzel, ChlorISS and Veg-06.
Details on the blog: https://spacebotany.uk/blog/three-plant-experiments-on-the-iss-for-crew-12/
This was an article I wrote for my day job, on early experiments exploring whether it would be possible to uses aquatic mosses (like you'd see in an aquarium) as biofilters on Mars.
Of three different species, Taxiphyllum barbieri proved the most pro-moss-ing 😂
Long-duration space missions will require closed-loop life support systems that can regenerate oxygen and purify water while recycling waste. A recent ESA Discovery project led by the University of Naples Federico II explored whether aquatic mosses – often found in aquariums – could combine oxygen production with water filtration in compact, low-maintenance systems.
I published a new edition of the Mission Report yesterday, which includes seeds flying on Artemis II, Grok growing a potato, liverworts, space puddles and a new Deep Space Food Challenge.
A newly-developed quinoa variety is bringing cultivation back to Argentina - and it may also be headed into space.
https://spacebotany.uk/blog/ancestral-crop-makes-a-comeback-and-eyes-the-stars/
Emma the Space Gardener 🌿🚀
