Tomatoes in space: UC Riverside scientists making big strides in mission to grow food for astronauts

Space is the final frontier for agriculture.

"It's expensive to send food up to astronauts, so ideally, we want them to grow some of their own food," said Dr. Robert Jinkerson, an associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside.

As NASA plans missions to the moon and Mars, scientists like Jinkerson are researching how to grow plants and fungal-based food using artificial photosynthesis.

"Our work is focused on how do we actually grow plants without light and try to reduce and minimize the amount of light," he said.

Instead of sunlight, Jinkerson has managed to grow tomatoes using acetate, a carbon-base alternative energy source. Jinkerson collaborated with Dr. Martha Orozco- Cardenas, the director of the Plant Transformation Research Center at UCR's College of Natural and Agriculture Sciences.

She was able to genetically alter tomato plants to be compact as well reduce their stem and leaves to fruit ratio.

"When we showed the results to NASA, the astronauts were very excited," said Orozco-Cardenas.

Currently, the research is being evaluated at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The next phase includes sending seeds to the International Space Station.

"Astronauts are going to harvest the fruit and then the seeds, replant them, and then grow another batch of tomatoes, and this will be the first seed-to-seed-to-seed experiment in space," said Jinkerson.

But tomatoes aren't the only thing on the menu. Jinkerson and his team have developed a protein rich crop of mushrooms using the same technology.

This past summer, his team Nolux earned $250,000 for their research as a runner up in NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge.

"This is kind of one of the first applications for artificial photosynthesis for food production is to grow mushrooms. So, we can feed the mushrooms with the acetate and allow them to grow in space," said Jinkerson.

These comic crops may one day provide astronauts the ability to extend their stay in space.

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