Hi, I am Matt Romeyn. I'm a plant scientist helping astronauts grow peppers in space.
Why?
Because in order to send humans to Mars, we need to spice things up.
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough recently added water to 48 seedlings to start the experiment
aboard the International Space Station.
The peppers will be grown in the Advanced Plant Habitat, a plant growth chamber about the
size of a kitchen oven. The peppers will be ready for harvest in about 3 and a half months.
The type of peppers are NuMex ‘Española Improved’, a hybrid pepper from New Mexico
often grown in the Hatch valley.
These peppers had the best combination of performance and flavor of the nearly two dozen cultivars
we tested.
These peppers are not just flavorful, but also nutritious, being more dense in Vitamin C
than even an orange.
This research will expand NASA’s space cookbook – helping keep astronauts healthy—and
their senses satisfied-- as we venture to the Moon and Mars.
Click the links to find out more and follow along on social media.