LED light box successfully planted space Zinju Chinese vegetables hope to cultivate in the space station

On January 17th, GMT, a flower was opened in the 402-kilometer International Space Station.

The zinnia blooms in the Plant Laboratory of the International Space Station.

This is a zinnia that was developed by American astronaut Scott Kelly with the support of the ground science team. She is the first flower cultivated by humans in outer space. For Kelly, the astronaut who took care of her day and night, she really like the rose of the little prince written by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, unique and beautiful.

However, things are far from being as gorgeous as they seem. Just like a beautiful woman's twists and turns of life, I also want to share with you the wonderful story behind this flower.

This is a wonderful picture, the background is the earth.

Space a flower home space station plant laboratory LED light box

Kelly released a picture of the blooming zinnia on Twitter, to smash this "space flower": the leaves are green, the flowers are in the state of goose yellow, orange yellow, orange red. The color of the fresh and dripping, and the shape of the graceful, are not much different from the zinnia on the earth.

However, because of the zero gravity of the space station, their petals are more open, like stretching all the way down the lower back, almost lying flat, not forming a subtle arc like the flowers on the earth. The place where this space zinnia grows is the LED light box in the Plant Laboratory of the International Space Station, which contains a set of cultivation systems consisting of red, blue and green LED lights.

The Plant Laboratory was established in May 2014. Its function is not only to study the growth of plants in outer space, but also to explore how to make astronauts self-sufficient to eat fresh vegetables in space.

So far, the lab has planted two vegetables.

The first crop was red lettuce. “Two of the first red lettuces were killed, so astronauts are very cautious about the next batch of dishes.” Trent Smith, project manager at Plant Labs, said that planting When the second crop of arugula was used, the astronauts paid special attention to adjusting the water supply. Most arugula thrive. On the harvest day after 1 month, the flight crew ate the arugula they had planted in the space station.

Bright and easy-to-flower Zinnia will become a sample of space plant cultivation

The third crop is the zinnia.

Dr. Yang Shaozong from Zhejiang Academy of Forestry Researcher told reporters that Bairiju is a South American variety that is very easy to flower and has beautiful flowers, mainly as ornamental plants. She can also eat, usually used to make salads.

However, these zinnias were chosen to be planted outside the sky, not because of their value, but because they can help scientists better understand how plants bloom under microgravity. They are the first flowering plants that scientists have planted in space.

"Zijuju and red lettuce are very different," Smith said. "Zijuju is very sensitive to environmental parameters, especially to changes in light. Their growth cycle is longer than red lettuce, which takes 60 to 80 days.

"Zijuju is very easy to flower. If she is allowed to open a flower in space, scientists can slowly explore the conditions under which plants bloom under special circumstances. It is relatively easy to plant the resulting food." Yang Shaozong guesses This is why the cultivation experience of Zinnia Chrysanthemum will become the growth sample of the next food crop such as tomato.

Space plants help humans go further Chinese vegetables are expected to be cultivated in space stations

“Plants can grow long-term in isolated, restricted, and extreme environments, such as man-made environments,” said NASA Human Research Program scientist Alexandra Whitmire. Next, astronauts plan to Planting a range of other vegetables in the space station and expecting to grow short tomatoes in 2018.

NASA said that the cultivation of tomatoes is important for the Mars exploration program because astronauts must grow their own food without being connected to the Earth.

If humans grow plants in space, they can expand on Mars and the moon base. "If the astronauts can grow their own food, then in the future outer space mission, the astronauts will not rely too much on the supply of the earth to supplement, nor are they afraid of the lonely environment in outer space - because there is such a companionship of creatures." Whitby Said.

Concerned about surprises