Not all of the world is focused on sustainably growing food sources for people. For people to be able to go on long-term space missions, they will need to be able to grow their food. Astronauts can’t sustain a mission on Mars by themselves gathering enough food (via China Daily). On Monday, China announced the success of growing rice on the Tiangong space station. Furthermore, Chinese astronauts have achieved other successes in growing food plants in space. Beets, wheat, and leafy greens all bore fruit successfully in 2014 on the International Space Station (via US Rice). Chinese astronauts have been working to grow rice off-planet since 2016.
The goal of this project is to grow rice from seed to seed, throughout the entire cycle. So far, the plants are doing very well. Two types of rice have been grown, a long stalk and a dwarf variety. Both seem to be growing at the same rate as their counterparts around the world (University Today).
SPACE RICE
Rice doesn’t need to be out of this world to make a great meal. According to China Daily, a grain of rice is the seed of a plant, and space seeds will be returned to Earth to study the effects of microgravity on the plant’s flowering stage. The better a plant can flower, the more important it is for yield. Additionally, rice and other seeds accompanied Chinese astronauts to space to help facilitate better mutations that will produce on Earth.
The experimental seeds, dubbed “space rice,” are being hailed as a possible way to ensure food safety for China’s 1.4 billion people (according to Jaran Josh).
This is not Bu’s first space mission. Freeze-dried chicken and rice were prepared for consumption in space during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, which featured famed Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin. The National Air and Space Museum houses a package from the historic event.
Possibly, we could eat rice on another planet. However, in his article “What Living in Space Has Taught Us About Living on Earth”, doctor and writer David Munns argues that “living in space, as opposed to merely visiting our planet as tourists, is equivalent to continuing to live on Earth rather than merely treating it”. Maybe growing rice in space, whether on Earth or a space station, would help us develop a better understanding of our home planet.