NASA will soon be growing chillies on the International Space Station. Jacob Torres joins Emma the Space Gardener to talk New Mexico chiles in space, his Space Chile Challenge citizen science project, and more!
On 3rd June 2021, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon launched that docked at the International Space Station two days later. Onboard that spacecraft were several plant experiments, some of which I talked about in the last episode. One of those experiments is Plant Habitat-04, PH-04, which will see NASA growing its first chilli peppers in the Advanced Plant Habitat. While Cargo Dragon was inflight, I was privileged to speak with a member of the PH-04 team. I caught up with Jacob Torres on his lunch break at Kennedy Space Center.
If you’d like to get involved with Jacob’s Space Chile Challenge then join the Space Chile Challenge Facebook group.
Jacob mentions some legume (pea and bean) experiments currently running at KSC. There’s more information about that in this week’s Gardeners of the Galaxy email newsletter.
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