Plans to send “gardens” filled with plants into orbit
She imagines industrial activities in space and frees up the land on Earth. The Hollywood director is filming films on orbit. And botanists go back and forth to check out the space garden. She and her colleagues are currently seeking funds to make their concept a spatial reality. The model, made by London-based design company Millimeter, is for display purposes only. The actual version is not even inhabited by humans, at least at first, if it flies. Her team asks why she was so desperate to come up with an aesthetically pleasing design in that case. It is “something that can bring back the imagination of the masses,” she explains.
But is that practical? The arms, including thin robes protruding from the Space Garden, look very fragile. Ekblaw says that these telescope accessories are usually withdrawn. “Most of the time, the structure looks like berry. There are no spinned arms,” she adds. When closed, the leaves protect the plant in the middle behind the thick window from light, but the structure can open for the light to reach the plant. This is a mechanically controlled alternative to the Earth’s day and night cycles.
Ultimately, astronauts may occasionally stop by the Space Garden to collect samples. Open-source data tracking onboard environmental conditions and plant growth rates also adds to an understanding of how to successfully cultivate food in space, she says.
When I show Dixon the Space Garden, he says it looks “flashy” and immediately gives his opinion that he may not need to grow food in space. He says he can’t see “large” gardens floating in space, but says that the psychological benefit of having plants familiar with astronauts is a “good idea.”
Alistair Griffith, the director of science at the Royal Horticultural Society of England, was involved in a project that sent rocket species (the right choice) to the ISS. In 2015, British astronaut Tim Peak was. Given its complex shape, he says there may be some practical challenges when transporting such designs, but he praises the overall approach.
The gardens here on Earth are very diverse. They contain plant and design characteristics that represent the personality of the people behind them. The same may be true for space gardens. Given the chance, green finger astronauts will certainly bring their preferences.
Dixon has long experimented with barley seeds, sending many people back into orbit and bringing them back to Earth. “That’s my bucket list. I’m going to grow barley on the moon,” he says.
For Griffith, another option comes to mind. “I’m going to grow strawberry plants,” he considered many possibilities after a while. “But a strawberry plant with bright red petals.” Fragaria x Ananassa is his choice of variety. If it goes all the way to space, it claims to be just as distinctive as edible.
But someone will need to come up with space dairy products.