NASA Plans to Grow Peppers on Space Station

NASA plans to grow peppers on the space station.

Growing plants or vegetables is not an easy task, but NASA is firm on growing the first ever fruit on the International Space Station.

The crew members abroad the ISS have grown things in microgravity before lettuce and other vegetables are included, however, growing fruit would be a first.

NASA made the announcement that it intends to grow Espanola pepper, also referred to as the capsicum annum, thereby November by the year-end.

Also Read: Smart Contact Lenses That Allows to Zoom In-Out in A Blink of An Eye

The special chilli is comparatively easy to grow as it grows at higher altitudes, does not need a lot of time to grow and is easy to pollinate.

Ray Wheeler—the NASA plant physiologist told the Rio Grande Sun that the special chilli is easier to grow as it grows at high altitudes and does not require a lot of time for growing and yet are very productive in the controlled environments that they would be used in space.

The main aim for growing these is to give the traveller with nutrition and various kinds of foods on longer trips for distant destinations in future like Mars.

Jacob Torres—a scientist at NASA told CNN that they need to grow enough for supplementing the diet, just like on Earth they cannot live on the same thing.

As per Futurism, freshly grown foods like chilli peppers could be very costly and a good source of nutrients and vitamins.

Wheeler said that the astronauts have mostly expressed a desire for more spicy and flavourful foods, as so having a little hot flavour also seemed to be a good thing. Also, many peppers are very high in the content of vitamin C, which is significant for space diets.

More Read: Buraq Cab Service to Launch in 6 Cities on 10th August