In September 2015, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) teamed up with the UK Space Agency to send 2kg of rocket seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) with British astronaut Tim Peake. The package returned to Earth at the beginning of March with Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly, and will be distributed to around 10,000 secondary and primary schools taking part in a national experiment to study the effects of space on the growth of the plants.
Scientists hope that by collecting such a large data sample they will be able to further understand how factors such as zero gravity and the lack of micro-organisms in the soil, air and water affect plant growth and development. That will, in turn, help them identify which crops will be the best to grow in a “space garden”, providing a sustainable source of food for astronauts and, by transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen, even air for Martian explorers to breathe.
We have received a blue packet of seeds and a red packet of seeds but do not know which one has been to space. The two batches will be planted separately and grown in trays, with students recording the number of leaves and growth on a wall chart provided with instructions from the RHS. The experiment, lasting 35 days, is to begin today (4.5.16) and at the end students will go online and report the data collected. Once the numbers have been crunched the results will be published in September 2016.
UPDATE - DAY 5 (9.5.16)
Today the first shoots began to appear in each of the seed trays. Here are our recordings of the number of seedlings we are able to see so far.
Red Seeds:
Tray 1 - 2
Tray 2 - 18
Tray 3 - 14
Tray 4 - 17
Blue Seeds:
Tray 1 - 7
Tray 2 - 13
Tray 3 - 16
Tray 4 - 8
This gives us no clues so far as to which seeds have been on board the ISS!
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