Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




PHYSICS NEWS
ESA's weightless plants fly on a Dragon
by Staff Writers
Paris (ESA) Apr 25, 2014


Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield maintaining Biolab in Europe's Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station. Biolab is an experiment workstation tailored for research on biological samples such as micro-organisms, cells, tissue cultures, plants and small invertebrates. The unit features a centrifuge that creates simulated gravity to compare how samples react to weightlessness and artificial gravity. Image courtesy NASA.

It is a race against time for ESA's Gravi-2 experiment following launch last Friday on the Dragon space ferry. Stowed in Dragon's cargo are lentil seeds that will be nurtured into life on the International Space Station.

Gravi-2 continues the research of its predecessor into how sensitive plants are to gravity.

To find out, 768 lentil seeds will be subjected to different levels of simulated gravity. Spinning them in centrifuges at different speeds on the Space Station will recreate gravity, similar to how astronauts and fighter pilots are subjected to highg-forces in human centrifuges.

The goal is to see at what gravity level the seedlings begin to show growth differences. Kept spinning for 30 hours at four different centrifuge speeds, the seedlings will be observed as they grow.

Anyone with plants at home knows that keeping a plant happy requires the right environment. The lentils need to survive a launch and grow in microgravity before they are chemically fixed to undergo detailed lab analysis on their return to researchers on the ground.

Dragon's launch was expected a few weeks earlier and Gravi-2 researchers had to check that the lentils would survive the extra waiting time before launch. After testing, the lentil seeds were declared still fit to fly.

Gravi-2Once aboard, the plants will be grown in ESA's space greenhouse and time-lapse photography will show how the roots curve towards the 'downwards' force.

The earlier Gravi-1 experiment showed that plants sense where 'down' is at very low gravity levels but the mechanisms are not well known - this new experiment is focusing on calcium's function in the process. The goal is to find which parts of plant cells are responding to gravity and telling the plant how to grow.

Plant explorers
Space greenhouseThis kind of experiment is also important for missions to faraway planets where astronauts will rely on plants for food, oxygen and waste recycling. Establishing a human outpost on Mars will require a certain amount of self-sufficiency and growing plants for consumption is essential.

We need to know how plants will grow on our neighbouring planet at just over a third of Earth's gravity level. Will plants still know which way to grow their roots on Mars or will they go haywire?

These are important questions to consider when sending explorers out where supplies have an 18-month delivery time.

These experiments are not only helping scientists to prepare for far-off colonisation but also improving our knowledge of growing lentils at home. Lentils are resistant to drought and are an important crop worldwide. The more we know about the legume the better we will be able to harvest it - on Earth or Mars.

.


Related Links
Human Spaceflight Research at ESA
Gravi-2 experiment details
The Physics of Time and Space






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





PHYSICS NEWS
Exploding stars prove Newton's gravity unchanged over cosmic time
Melbourne, Australia (SPX) Mar 26, 2014
Australian astronomers have combined all observations of supernovae ever made to determine that the strength of gravity has remained unchanged over the last nine billion years. Newton's gravitational constant, known as G, describes the attractive force between two objects, together with the separation between them and their masses. It has been previously suggested that G could have been sl ... read more


PHYSICS NEWS
John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95

NASA Completes LADEE Mission with Planned Impact on Moon's Surface

Russia plans to get a foothold in the Moon

Russian Federal Space Agency is elaborating Moon exploration program

PHYSICS NEWS
Opportunity Rover Driving Up To Crater Rim

NASA Rover Opportunity's Selfie Shows Clean Machine

NASA's Human Path to Mars

Meteorites Yield Clues to Red Planet's Early Atmosphere

PHYSICS NEWS
NASA Selects Commercial Crew Program Manager

NASA Innovative Advanced Concept Program Seeks Phase II Proposals

NASA Names Six New Members to Advisory Council

Go Big or Go Home - Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Doing Both, and More

PHYSICS NEWS
China issues first assessment on space activities

China launches experimental satellite

Tiangong's New Mission

"Space Odyssey": China's aspiration in future space exploration

PHYSICS NEWS
Astronauts Complete Short Spacewalk to Replace Backup Computer

No Official Confirmation of NASA Severing Ties with Russian Space Agency

Astronauts Prep for Spacewalk as Mission Managers Evaluate Busy Schedule

Dragon Cargo Craft Launch Scrubbed; Station Crew Preps for Spacewalk

PHYSICS NEWS
45th Space Wing supports third SpaceX Launch for ISS Resupply mission

Arianespace's Vega launcher receives its "upper composite" for this month's launch

Launcher build-up begins for Arianespace's fifth Ariane 5 mission to orbit an ATV

Russian Rockets used by the US

PHYSICS NEWS
Exoplanets Soon to Gleam in the Eye of NESSI

First Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized Planet Confirmed By Gemini And Keck Observatories

Upside-down planet reveals new method for studying binary star systems

Odd Tilts Could Make More Worlds Habitable

PHYSICS NEWS
Tiny Step Edges, Big Step for Surface Science

Quantum superconductor-metal to glass transition observed

Thinnest feasible membrane produced

Chiral breathing: Electrically controlled polymer changes its optical properties




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.