Space crops

chiny24.com 8 months ago

On September 28, around 16 varieties of mountain barley and rapeseed with a full weight of 520 grams were sent into space to conduct breeding experiments. This was due to the successful launch of the first Chinese reusable satellite Shijian-19.

Shijian-19 was placed in a preset orbit utilizing a Long March-2D launcher rocket that launched at 6:30 p.m. on Friday 27 September from the Jiuquan cosmodrome (Chinese. 酒泉卫星发射中心), the oldest Chinese rocket center, located in the Gobi Desert, in northwest China, in the interior Mongolia autonomous region.

According to information from the Chinese National Space Administration, this mission marks a fresh phase in the construction of a key laboratory for space breeding.

Space farming uses utmost space environments, specified as microgravity and strong radiation, to induce genetic mutations in seeds. In time, seeds will return to Earth to choice and grow fresh varieties of plants. This process usually induces seeds with better parameters.

This innovative approach aims to make fresh varieties of crops capable of sustaining utmost growth conditions. In low gravity environments, apart from the Earth's protective magnetic shield, seeds undergo subtle DNA changes, making them more resistant to drought and any diseases.

The world's first space-breeding laboratory was established in Cona, in the southwest Chinese Autonomous Region of Xizang in May 2024, as part of coordinated activities of investigation teams from Anhui state in east China and Shaanxi state in north-western China with the local government of Cona. The laboratory aims to contribute to the improvement of fresh agricultural productivity in Xizang.

China has been a leader in space breeding since the first experimentation in 1987. Over the years, this country has sent seeds of hundreds of plant species into space on many Shenzhou satellites and spacecraft. The experiments follow 2 paths: they aim to get fresh varieties of plants adapted to highly hard conditions specified as deserts, for example, but besides to make methods of increasing crops in space, to satisfy the nutritional needs of crews surviving in space for longer periods. Starting with the crews of the orbital space station, through crews who live and work on the lunar investigation station, and ending with those who will yet go to Mars and beyond.