The Super Tomato that grows in the space will become soon into reality thanks to an Italian project
Pubblished bykageja
An Italian project financed by ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) wants to increment the “Micro-Tom” tomato plantations in the space, without the necessity of soil and the sun light. It could be the beginning of a revolution within the agricultural sector.
Maybe in the near future, astronauts will be able to grow tomatoes inside their spacecraft, having the possibility of eating fruits that they have grown themselves. At the moment, a group of Italian scientist is working on the project. Right now, it is just a hypothesis that soon could become into reality. The main objective of the project is to develop a farming method without the necessity of soil and strong enough to be able to withstand the extreme conditions in space. Nowadays the scientist are monitoring tomato plants that are growing in a greenhouse, which is located outside Rome. The plants are growing without soil, taking water and minerals and receiving sun light from LED lamps.
Genetica Piante: “our mission is to find out a plant whose characteristics can fit the best to the extreme conditions in the space: the plant must have a short growing and productivity cycle, it must be small and able to produce bioactive molecules that are effective for living in special conditions”. That was said by Eugenio Benvenuto, responsible of the biotechnology laboratory from the Italian Agency of new technologies, energy and sustainable development (ENEA), in an interview made by EFE. ENEA will make different researches about a special breed of tomato in order to determine if that plantation could help to make easier the life of future astronauts who will go on missions for long periods. Missions to Mars, to the Moon, which are in extreme conditions such as without gravity, with cosmic radiation and electromagnetic fields.
The video in YouTube of the astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in which we can see her eating tiramisu or tasting the Italian food in the space could be developed into something more spectacular. The astronauts want to introduce green activities, like gardening or harvesting fruits and vegetables, into their special job. The space tomato research is not the first one that has been developed in the World. In fact the NASA, last August informed about the on-going project about growing lettuces in the space. “The research about space fruits is on- going, indeed some seeds samples have been sent to the space in order to be cultivated”. Benvenuto said. In other places in the World the researches about sending lettuce and ruccola seeds to space have already started, as it was mentioned before. However, those researches were focused on understanding the ecosystems and the cycles (water, nutrients and other compounds), that can create life. ENEA is specifically working on developing tomato plants that can resist extreme tension. The research is divided in different phases. The first one was focused on knowing the tomato specie Micro-Tom. For this phase ENEA had the collaboration of the University of Amsterdam, which produces that kind of tomato and studies its genome.
POMODORO COP- Why did they choose only the tomato? Most probably due to its antioxidant properties, which scientists are improving. This kind of tomato, Micro-Tom, cannot be useful only for astronauts also for people who stay in the Earth, in fact tomatoes can be used against the proliferation of cells in organisms that cause of aging, DNA mutation and cancer, due to the fact that tomatoes are plants that respond very well to external stress. The scientist, Elisabetta Bennici, member of team that is researching the Pomodoro, said to EFE, that they are not working only to bring seeds to the space but also to start a true food and medical revolution. On one hand, the tomato has special substances that fights against the cellular aging. It could be a great idea to develop medical drugs based on tomato roots not only for astronauts that are exposed to extreme conditions but also for improving the people’s quality of live. On the other hand, based on Benvenuto’s opinion, the results of the project will be useful to create a new dietary change, where we will eat more fruits and vegetables in order to fight against aging. The plantations without soil not only will be a revolution in the space’s life but also in the agricultural methods in the Earth. It could bring the possibility to grow tomatoes in places where the conditions are not good and in developing countries, helping to fight against the starvation.
Source: http://www.meteoweb.eu
