The Library
Eustress in Space : opportunities for plant stressors beyond the earth ecosystem
Tools
Hessel, Volker, Liang, Shu, Tran, Nam Nghiep, Escribà-Gelonch, Marc, Zeckovic, Olivia, Knowling, Matthew, Rebrov, Evgeny, Hervé, Jacques Marie This , Westra, Seth, Fisk, Ian, Gilliham, Matthew and Jacquelyn, Alexandra (2022) Eustress in Space : opportunities for plant stressors beyond the earth ecosystem. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 9 . 841211. doi:10.3389/fspas.2022.841211 ISSN 2296-987X.
|
PDF
WRAP-Eustress-Space-opportunities-plant-stressors-beyond-earth-ecosystem-22.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (2678Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.841211
Abstract
Human space exploration cannot occur without reliable provision of nutritious and palatable food to sustain physical and mental well-being. This ultimately will depend upon efficient production of food in space, with on-site manufacturing on space stations or the future human colonies on celestial bodies. Extraterrestrial environments are by their nature foreign, and exposure to various kinds of plant stressors likely cannot be avoided. But this also offers opportunities to rethink food production as a whole. We are used to the boundaries of the Earth ecosystem such as its standard temperature range, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations, plus diel cycles of light, and we are unfamiliar with liberating ourselves from those boundaries. However, space research, performed both in true outer space and with mimicked space conditions on Earth, can help explore plant growth from its ‘first principles’. In this sense, this perspective paper aims to highlight fundamental opportunities for plant growth in space, with a new perspective on the subject. Conditions in space are evidently demanding for plant growth, and this produces “stress”. Yet, this stress can be seen as positive or negative. With the positive view, we discuss whether plant production systems could proactively leverage stresses instead of always combatting against them. With an engineering view, we focus, in particular, on the opportunities associated with radiation exposure (visible light, UV, gamma, cosmic). Rather than adapting Earth conditions into space, we advocate on rethinking the whole issue; we propose there are opportunities to exploit space conditions, commonly seen as threats, to benefit space farming.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QH Natural history T Technology > TL Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics |
|||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Engineering > Engineering | |||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Space biology, Growth (Plants), Plants -- Effect of weightlessness on, Closed ecological systems (Space environment), Plants for closed ecological systems | |||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences | |||||||||
Publisher: | Frontiers Media | |||||||||
ISSN: | 2296-987X | |||||||||
Official Date: | 8 March 2022 | |||||||||
Dates: |
|
|||||||||
Volume: | 9 | |||||||||
Article Number: | 841211 | |||||||||
DOI: | 10.3389/fspas.2022.841211 | |||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | |||||||||
Copyright Holders: | Evgeny Rebrov | |||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 November 2022 | |||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 21 November 2022 | |||||||||
Funder: | Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR) | |||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
|
|||||||||
Open Access Version: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year