Students from seven schools across Victoria and Tasmania united at La Trobe University in Bundoora on Friday, April 26 for their Plants for Space immersion day.
The students were given a grow kit, which includes a container to grow food crops in an enclosed environment to simulate the growing environment on a spacecraft.
As part of La Trobe University’s Plants for Space partnership, we are engaging with the secondary school students, who are taking part in the NASA research to find the hardiest plants to send to space.
The results from students all over the world will determine the most nutritious plants for space travel.
Astronauts will then grow the most appropriate plants to supplement their diets during long missions away from Earth.
The students agreed duckweed and strawberries were proving to be the top growing foods in enclosed environments similar to a space craft and felt duckweed could be added to preserved food to give astronauts additional nutrients.
