Group gets grant for space plants

The thought of humans living on Mars might seem like a foreign idea now, but an N.C. State University research team is conducting experiments that are continually making the idea more plausible.

The four-member research team of the Kenan Institute of Engineering, Technology & Science, led by Chris Brown, used its interest in plant biology to formulate a project proposal involving experiments on how to grow plants in space.

“If we’re going to go anywhere (in space), we’re going to need life support,” said Brown, who has had done plant biology work with NASA for 15 years. “We depend on plants every day for food, purified water and oxygen.”

Impressed by the idea, NASA agreed to fund the project and asked the team to expand it to include studies on plant growth on the moon and Mars.

Guy Etheridge, project manager at the Kennedy Space Center, said he recognized the importance of the project.

“It will be useful in human exploration of Mars,” he said. “We are looking forward to working with (Brown) on this and other experiments in the future.”

After receiving confirmation from NASA, the team began revising and expanding its proposal. The final proposal, sent Jan. 14 by Brown, includes experimentation for four years and funding of $923,000.

The basic objective of the project is to study how the genes of plants respond to growing in different levels of gravity, said team member Heike Winter-Sederoff.

“Everywhere on Earth, there is just one gravity unit,” she said.

Although they cannot locally simulate the weaker gravity in space, Winter-Sederoff said they have been experimenting by turning plants upside down and teaching their roots to find the ground from a different direction.

Team member Imara Perera said she will be supplying the team with plants with altered sensitivity to gravity.

“I’m working on how to better engineer plants for different environments,” she said.

The team will not actually be sending their plants into space for another two to three years.

“There is a lot of stuff we have to do here first to prepare,” Perera said.

Before the shuttle launches, the research team will train the chosen astronauts on how to conduct their experiments in space.

“Then the analysis will be done here on Earth,” Winter-Sederoff said.

The astronauts involved in the mission will take up genetically altered, dried seeds supplied by the research team. After adding water, the seeds will grow, and the team will be able to assess their performance, Winter-Sederoff said.

If the plants grow successfully, they will be crucial to the advancement of humans in space, Perera said.

“It’s really important,” she said. “People need to have some source of food, and the astronauts like to have something green to look at.”

The involvement of NASA gives the team an opportunity to test its plants in space, but the researchers also are using their studies to improve agriculture on Earth.

If plants can adapt to adverse conditions, they will be stronger and easier to grow, Winter-Sederoff said.

“Space is exciting, but we all like to eat,” she said.

The opportunity to experiment with the financial support of NASA has allowed N.C. State students a first-hand look at these unique experiments.

“There are a lot of students involved, and they love it,” Winter-Sederoff said. “I think it’s exciting to understand and know what’s out there and around us. It’s just curiosity, I guess.”

 

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