PH-07 (Plant Habitat-07)

Spaceflight Microbiome of a Food Crop Grown Using Different Substrate Moisture Levels

Overview: This investigation will research ‘Outredgeous’ romaine lettuce grown in microgravity and study its response to various amounts of water.

A man wearing a blue shirt, glasses, and bright purple gloves touches red and green colored lettuce in a black plant holder at a NASA laboratory with white walls.

Pace crop production scientist Oscar Monje harvests Outredgeous romaine lettuce for preflight testing of the Plant Habitat-07 (PH-07) experiment inside a laboratory at the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Credit: NASA

Science objectives:

To learn how different amounts of water affect the plants and their corresponding groups of microorganisms
To identify how unsatisfactory conditions can alter the plant’s growth
To develop new systems that will create nutritious food that’s safe for astronauts on the International Space Station

Potential Earth applications:

To learn more about how variations of moisture conditions will impact nutrition levels in plants and the diversity of its accompanying microbiomes
To improve the ways food crops are grown on Earth and increase the safety of crop products

Potential space applications:

To identify how different moisture environments will alter the production and nutritional content of lettuce that’s developed in microgravity
To study how varying amounts of water impact the safety of plants consumed by humans on the space station
To develop new ways to grow plants and crops in space on future missions

Related resources:

Space Station Research Explorer Pag e

NASA Science on Health, Safety to Launch on 31st SpaceX Resupply Missi on

NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Divisio n pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth.