NASA decided plants that can grow and bear fruits in space

NASA has decided plants develop for future generation of researchers who will need to feed themselves on travel to the Moon or Mars for several months or years. It is no easy to develop plants in space. The plant seeds can spread out in different directions. Water, instead of draining down through the earth, is collected in dewdrop and can flood the roots.
Artificial lighting and fans should be set up appropriately to simulate the sun and wind.

Essential nutrients, such as vitamins C and K, eventually dissolve in the food composition, prepared by freeze-drying. In the absence of these vitamins, astronauts become vulnerable to transferable diseases, their blood coagulability worsens, and the risk of cardiac and oncological diseases increases.

Hence, the US space agency asked for help from professional botanists and novice gardeners - students of higher educational institutions.

Located in Miami, USA, the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden horticultural farm recognized 106 plant species that can be grown in space to produce good results, including crispy cabbage and a salad with wide plants.

Project leaders attracted 15,000 botanists from 150 educational institutions to contribute in the program, who were asked to grow plants in conditions at the space station, in their own classrooms and laboratories.

This 4-year project is currently running for about two years, and the total of funding it has expected from NASA is $ 1.24 million.