Cosmic Gardening

When astronauts base themselves on the Moon and beyond in the coming decades, they’ll need to be fairly self-sufficient with their health and nutrition - which includes finding quick, reliable ways to grow good-quality plants in zero gravity.

As such, plant growth in space is a pivotal field for the future of human space exploration, and the lessons we learn from it will also help us improve how we approach agriculture on Earth.

Excitingly, Australian researchers are the forefront of this field. The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space and Lunaria One are two organisations supported by the Australian Space Agency making great strides forward, and they're gearing up to take their work to the Moon in the next few years.

Our featured guests for this episode are Professor Matthew Gilliham (The University of Adelaide / Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space) and Lauren Fell (Lunaria One).

This episode also features a bonus stroll through the Exhibition Hall at the 17th Australian Space Forum in Adelaide in July 2024!