UNM researchers team up with University of Wisconsin–Madison to send tomatoes into space
January 26, 2024
New Mexico researchers and collaborating institutions are known to send some unique and unusual plants and vegetables into space – take for instance the green chile launch of 2019 – and next week, UNM Biology Professor David Hanson and his team are sending up tomatoes.
“Nutrition is a big issue for astronauts and eating dehydrated food gets old fast and plants are important for mental health,” Hanson said. “Astronauts really like the connection to earth that plants provide. What is exciting is that there is a lot of science needed to learn how to grow plants efficiently and reliably for future space missions.”
The tomatoes will take flight Monday, Jan. 29 on the International Space Station (ISS) as part of project Trichoderma Associated Space Tomato Inoculation Experiment – or TASTIE. Researchers hope to better understand how plants grow without gravity and if there are ways to help plants cope with the stressors involved with growing in space flight.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
