Major breakthrough as NASA grows radish in space

New Delhi : In a major breakthrough, the NASA scientists were able to grow radish in space in a microgravity chamber in the International Space Station (ISS). In late November, astronaut Kate Rubins onboard the ISS had shared images of the 20 radish plants she had grown in the ISS’ Advanced Plant Habitat.

This was done under NASA’s plant experiment - Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02). The experiment was aimed to learn how plants grow in microgravity conditions. Radishes were chosen since they are fairly well understood by scientists and achieve maturity in just 27 days.

The edible and nutritious radish is now available to harvest any day. The sample will soon be sent back to earth for further studies. 

Since plants have no gravity to root them to the soil, the seeds are grown in “pillows” that help evenly distribute fertiliser and water to the roots. Check out the interesting video below:

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