GreenCube: One Giant Leap for Cresskind

When ESA’s new Vega C rocket blasted off from French Guiana for the first time, on 13 July 2022, it carried an Italian garden into space.

GreenCube is a garden in a CubeSat, a tiny satellite measuring just 10x10x30 cm. The project is a collaboration between the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Sapienza University of Rome, ENEA and the Federico II University of Naples.

A pressurised chamber inside GreenCube is designed for growing microgreens. For this flight, it was loaded with garden cress (Lepidium sativum) seeds. Technicians initiated their growth on 26 July 2022, once the satellite reached the correct orbit, and they verified that conditions within the chamber were suitable for plants. 

Based on a closed-loop hydroponic system, GreenCube is fitted with sensors that constantly monitor the growing environment. The main environmental conditions – including light, temperature and nutrient flow – can be remotely controlled from the ground. The growth cycle is expected to last between 15 and 20 days.

“Small soil-less cultivation systems such as the GREENCube can play a key role in meeting the crew’s food needs, minimising operating time and avoiding contamination thanks to the automated control of environmental conditions.”

With an orbit 6,000 km from Earth, GreenCube is the first ever experiment growing plants beyond low Earth orbit under microgravity conditions. Its orbit passes through the Van Allen radiation belt, but the satellite is demonstrating excellent resistance to the high levels of radiation found in this extremely hostile environment.

A ground control experiment will mimic the space experiment here on Earth.

“The comparison between the results of the experiments obtained in space and on Earth will be crucial to