Biology and crop production in Space environments: Challenges and opportunities

The World Smallest Plants (Wolffia Sp.) as Potential Species for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems in Space

“…Space farming places more demands on plants than conventional agriculture due to the extreme condition of the space environment, which require plants to tolerate factors, such as cosmic radiation and the absence of gravity, while at the same time sustaining astronaut life. The best crop plants in space must produce edible biomass in a high-quality, fast and reliable way, without wasting resources on the production of non-edible biomass and while thus maximising resource utilisation [7]. Candidate species for space farming are increasing; plants at a different stage of development are considered; they include leafy greens, microgreens (e.g., Brassica oleracea, Rumex acetosa, Lepidium bonariense, Coriandrum sativum, Amaranthus hypochondriacu), fruit crops (e.g., Fragaria vesca, Solanum lycopersicum), and tuber crops (Solanum tuberosum) [8].…”

Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Carbon- and Titanium-Ions Irradiation on Morpho-Anatomical and Biochemical Traits of Dolichos melanophthalmus DC. Seedlings Aimed to Space Exploration

“…The human exploration of Mars represents one of the most ambitious challenges that man will face in the coming years [1]. To realize long-duration manned missions, numerous obstacles must be overcome, regarding both organism's adaptation to extreme environmental conditions and technical/operational issues [2,3]. Currently, the re-supply of resources is still an open issue, as for short-duration missions supplies are entirely shipped from Earth.…”

“…However, the efficiency of plants as regenerators can be influenced by space environmental factors affecting plant growth and metabolic processes [3]. Even though the type and level of stressors encountered in the different mission scenarios (e.g., space stations, and Lunar and Martian surfaces) are variable, there is common agreement that ionizing radiation (IR) risk represents a major constraint to human exploration of space, being radiation responsible for aberrations, both in mammalian and plant cells [6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Specifically, outside the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), all organisms are exposed to: (i) chronic low-doses of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), mainly composed of high-energy protons, alpha particles and heavy ions (HZE-high-energy nuclei component); and (ii) solar energy particles (SEPs), consisting in the short term of medium-low energy protons and alpha particles [10][11][12][13]. Considering the reduced possibility to expose plants to chronic radiation (e.g., limited access to space facilities and reduced availability of ground-based sources to simulate a space chronic radiation), experiments with specific ions at given acute doses are considered a required preliminary step in space biology to explore the radio-resistance of different species and evaluate their suitability for cultivation in space [3]. Recent research has reported that the effects of a chronic exposure are more severe compared to acute irradiation in wheat and Arabidopsis [14,15].…”

“…Recent research has reported that the effects of a chronic exposure are more severe compared to acute irradiation in wheat and Arabidopsis [14,15]. However, radiation effects on plants strictly depends on the plant species and the absorbed doses; therefore, as the effects of IR on plants are understood best at acute high doses [3], experiments based on acute exposure can help identify target species with very low radio-resistance at already low doses. Carbon and titanium are among ions considered proxy to galactic nuclei and are most commonly used to simulate the GRC spectrum in irradiation facilities on Earth [16,17].…”