China's Space Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

China's Shenzhou-16 astronauts are cultivating vegetables as part of their science experiment workload aboard the Tiangong space station. The trio have been using a "space garden" cultivation device designed by researchers of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center. The device controls temperature, humidity, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels to create environments tailored for plant growth. 

 

In the future, the "space garden" will not only provide food, oxygen and water for the astronauts, but also serve as an experiment platform to study the effects of special environments, such as space microgravity, on the growth of plants.

 

Actually, China had experimented with rice and other plants in space for more than 30 years, by sending seeds into orbit for brief trips during which they were exposed to the higher radiation environment of low Earth orbit. After this process of "space mutagenesis", teams then look for rice with genetic mutations that enhance their yield or resistance to disease.

 

The Shenzhou-14 mission crew grew thale cress (Scientific name: Arabidopsis thaliana) as well as rice (Scientific name: Oryza sativa) and other plants during their time aboard the Tiangong space station. They were farmed for 120 days, taking the seeds through the entire life cycle, from germination to reproduction. Chinese scientists are surely interested to study about the potential of growing vegetables and learn the intricacies of food production for deep space travel. 

 

Already, Tiangong currently harbors at least 100 types of seeds. These will be exposed to cosmic radiation and returned to Earth for study. Scientists hope to isolate beneficial mutations to improve crop strains. 

 

Mission commander Jing Haipeng and fellow taikonauts Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao are expected to hand over control of the orbital outpost to the incoming, as yet unnamed Shenzhou-17 crew sometime in November.

 

On Monday, MUDA’s Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (right) called Anwar Ibrahim’s administration a “NATO” (No Action, Talk Only) government, claiming they had broken promises of reforms made during the run-up to Malaysia’s 15th general election. 

 

He launched the criticism after his party made the decision to part ways with the unity government.