NASA Is Farming Dwarf Tomatoes That Are Literally Out Of This World

Tomatoes often thrive in sunny, dry, and stable climates that allow their vines to flourish and bear juicy red fruit. So, naturally, the last place one would think to grow them in is space. However, that’s precisely where NASA intends to cultivate a crop of its tomatoes.
 
Intergalactic dwarf tomatoes will be a part of NASA’s long-standing experiment to determine the effects of growing vegetables out in space. The program, called Vegetable Production System (or Veggie for short), has turned part of the International Space Station into a garden filled with crops. It’s not a large plot of area, by any means. Instead, think more along the lines of a suitcase with an array of crops sprouting out of it.
 
Gioia Massa, a NASA Life Sciences project scientist, states that the new chapter in the study, Veg-05, seeks to study the effects of the light spectrum on how well crops develop and if it affects the nutritional and taste values of the tomatoes. The project will also examine the impact on the crew’s health when they eat food farmed in space.
 
Previously, Veggie saw the likes of cabbage, kale, peppers, and flowers being grown. Tomatoes will be the first fruits cultivated. Massa adds that the dwarf tomatoes can be eaten fresh by those on board the ISS.
 
These efforts are headed towards an even longer-term goal of sustainably introducing a galactic agricultural system for astronauts to depend on one day. NASA has long been interested in doing expanding this venture as it plans to put humans back on the Moon. Recently, the space exploration team invested in a 3D-printing company to help build lunar ‘sandcastles’.
 
 
 
[via Futurism and NASA, Photo 701500 © Anita Nowack | Dreamstime.com]