This post and podcast, and Two Maverix® Multimedia, are not, in any way, shape or form, affiliated with, nor endorsed by, NASA. (We just consider growing crops in space one of the coolest science applications we’ve seen!)

(Image courtesy of NASA, and used with permission.)

When most of us garden, we don’t have to deal with zero gravity.

Nor do we have to think about space dust–or sunsets every ninety minutes.

(Image courtesy of NASA, and used with permission.)

But these factors add up to interesting challenges for space scientists Dr. Gioia Massa and Matt Romeyn.

As NASA Project Scientists at Kennedy Space Center, Matt and Gioia are involved in researching and developing ways to grow fresh crops aboard the International Space Station.

Gioia, as we discussed in a 2018 episode, served as NASA’s science team lead in developing the first fresh food production system for the ISS. This 2014 project culminated in the first edible crops aboard the ISS: red romaine lettuce, which the astronauts first had the opportunity to sample in 2015, according to NASA’s blog.

At the time of our first conversation, NASA’s Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) had just been delivered to the ISS.

Meanwhile, Matt, who began working at Kennedy Space Center in 2016, researches and builds hardware to provide additional food-production capabilities in space. In 2021, he served as principal investigator for NASA’s Plant Habitat-04 experiment, which explored the possibility of growing chile peppers in space.

As shown on NASA’s blog, the experiment was a huge success.

(Image courtesy of NASA, and used with permission.)

The astronauts actually wound up making “space tacos” with the new, fresh addition to their onboard fare.

(Image courtesy of NASA, and used with permission.)

And Gioia, Matt and their teams continue innovating. Their work encompasses discovering new crops to grow aboard the International Space Station, as well as looking ahead to “space farming” possibilities for both the Moon and, possibly, a future Mars colony.

Gioia and Matt talked about their recent experiences, offered a closer look at the process of growing crops aboard the ISS and shared a preview of what’s next.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• What first inspired Matt to pursue space science as his profession;
  

• Some of the most exciting milestones Gioia has experienced in her food-production research and development of space crops since our 2018 conversation;
  

• The story of the first plant transplant in space, which occurred, as Gioia says, as a “happy accident”;
  

• Considerations involved, for Matt, when the ISS crew members called him for advice on the transplant experiment;
  

• The astronauts’ psychological responses to the plants, growing aboard the International Space Station;
  

• A closer look at the crew’s response to the first crop of chile peppers grown in space!;
  

• What it’s like to monitor the plants aboard the APH (Advanced Plant Habitat) from Kennedy Space Center;
  

• An experiment that could ultimately allow astronauts to choose which crops they’ll grow aboard the ISS, pulling from a “seed bank”;
  

• The current technology operating aboard the ISS, including “Veggie” and the additional growth chambers, to conduct experiments in producing fresh food:
  

• One of the coolest research findings Matt has had, with the “space crops”, in the past year;
  

• Some of the effects of microgravity on plants;
  

• Crop-growing challenges involved, as NASA plans for the Artemis moon missions, and possibly for a mission to Mars;
  

• What’s happening with another planned ISS crop: tomatoes!
  

• Some new technology which NASA recently sent to the ISS, for watering crops in space;
  

• Additional new experiments, which will go up to the International Space Station later this year;
  

• The Advanced Plant Habitat’s record-breaking work with the chile peppers;
  

• What’s been most fun for Matt and Gioia, in their research and development of technologies and methods for growing crops in space, within the last six months!;
  

• Some of the resources which NASA offers, both for citizen science and for educators.