Space Crop Production Research Informing Exploration

Food and nutrition are critical to health and performance and therefore the success of human space exploration. NASA has investigated the role of space-grown crops as part of the food system through crop-focused research and hardware development. The primary goals of NASA’s space crop production research are to provide whole-food nutrition, increase menu variety, and promote behavioral health for astronauts.
From a food perspective, our vision is to ensure food security on long-duration missions beyond low-Earth orbit by providing crew with continuous access to safe, nutritious, and acceptable fresh food. In the near term, our efforts are focused on supplementing the packaged diet with produce that can be consumed fresh with minimal processing.
On the International Space Station, astronauts have grown and consumed several “pick-and-eat” crops, including leafy greens, radishes, and peppers. Two large plant growth facilities have supported these studies: Veggie, a simple, low-mass cultivation chamber, and the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), a highly automated plant physiology research chamber. Research in these systems has begun to address key questions related to yield, food safety, crop microbiomes, substrate moisture effects, light recipes, seed handling, planting, and transplanting.
Lessons learned from Veggie and APH have informed the design of Ohalo III, a next-generation crop production testbed currently being built for testing aboard the ISS. Ohalo III will enable testing of microgravity crop production strategies using reusable root zones designed for both substrate-based and soilless hydroponic approaches. Ohalo III production and testing will drive design decisions for a crop production system for future Mars transit missions.
Ground-based analog research and lunar space plant biology experiments complement microgravity spaceflight studies by simulating and testing aspects of future surface systems and informing technology development. As we transition from research to operational crop production for exploration missions, systems will continue to evolve based on technological advances, scientific insights, and mission architecture requirements and definition.