Space Chiles are Blooming Marvellous!
Over our heads, on the International Space Station, chilli peppers are blooming and being hand-pollinated by astronauts.
There are four pepper plants growing in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH). On 3rd September, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur posted pictures of them starting to flower:
Plant researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center have been closely monitoring the peppers and using the APH’s internal fans to create a gentle breeze to assist in pollinating the peppers.
Yesterday, Megan posted a lovely video of her hand-pollinating the flowers, with some help from the team on the ground:
This experiment, Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) is one of the longest and most challenging space plant experiments to date. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough initiated the experiment on July 12, and the peppers will grow for 120 days, with astronauts hoping to harvest green chiles in late October and red fruit in early November.
Read more about the early stages of the experiment in There are space chillies growing 200 miles above your head, and listen to NASA engineer Jacob Torres talk about what it takes to grow chiles in space in episode 24 of Gardeners of the Galaxy:
Unless otherwise stated, © Copyright Emma Doughty 2023. Published on theunconventionalgardener.com.
Read more on theunconventionalgardener.com
