DIY astrobiologist Elliot Roth on growing edible algae in space: GotG8

Join Emma the Space Gardener as she explores gardening on Earth… and beyond! In this episode, Emma talks to analog astronaut Elliot Roth, who recently spent two weeks in a simulated Moon mission. Find out why Elliot thinks we should pack algae when we leave Earth, and why we’d be better settling on Venus than Mars.

You can check out Elliot’s algae on the Spira Inc website, and if you’d like to get in touch with Elliot to discuss his projects, the email address is [email protected]

Elliot mentions algae causing the first mass extinction event, and you can read more about that in Poisoned Planet.

And the recent news from Venus is that scientists have found phospine gas in the atmosphere. On Earth, that’s associated with microbes, but that doesn’t mean we’ve found life on Venus! Read more: Scientists find gas linked to life in atmosphere of Venus.

And Elliot’s tomato/potato hybrid plants? They already exist! It’s possible to buy tomatoes/pomatoes to grow at home.

Gardeners of the Galaxy: Episode 8 script

Hello and welcome to episode eight of Gardeners of the Galaxy, a podcast for all of the sentient beings in the Universe who have a passion for plants. I am Emma the Space Gardener, and I will be your host as we explore gardening on Earth… and beyond!

In this episode I’m talking to a man who spent two week on the Moon! Well, not quite. Elliot Roth is an analog astronaut, and when I spoke to him he’d just returned from a two-week mission in the Hi-Seas habitat in Hawaii.

XXX Interview XXX

That’s it for this episode. If you’d like to hear more of my interview with Elliot, then sign up to support the show via patreon.com/gardenersofthegalaxy, and you’ll get access to the extended episode. And if you want to know more about Elliot’s