![]() 30, 2020, and send samples back to Earth in 2021 on a SpaceX Commercial Resupply Services mission return flight. Astronauts plan to harvest that crop on Dec. In space, a second crop of radishes is already growing in the APH on station for the second part of PH-02. The space station is a unique laboratory enabling long-duration microgravity experiments that lead to a better understanding of fundamental properties of everything from plants to physics. In microgravity, everything from fluids to flames behave differently. The major difference is the crops grown on the space station experienced microgravity, an environment vastly different from Earth’s. The nearly identical growing conditions for both crops will make it possible to identify the effects of the space environment by measuring a range of properties including chlorophyll quantities, enzyme activity, mineral uptake, and several other traits. Scientists will compare the results of the ground control experiment to the plants grown in space. Knowledge gained from the PH-02 experiment will enable astronauts to grow crops that will help sustain crews on long-duration space exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. This crop was a ground control for a similar crop of radishes grown aboard the International Space Station, which Astronaut Kate Rubins harvested on Nov. ![]() Photo credit: NASA/Kim ShiflettĪ team of researchers and engineers harvested radishes from the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) ground unit as part of the Plant Habitat-02 experiment, or PH-02, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. The comparison will allow researchers to better see how a microgravity environment affects plant growth ahead of long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. This crop of radishes was grown under similar conditions as those growing in space – the major difference being the absence of microgravity. Part of the Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02) experiment, scientists will compare these radishes grown at Kennedy to radish crops growing on the International Space Station. A research scientist harvests radishes grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat ground unit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec.
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