microgravity research

Scientists are teaching shrimp to eat in zero gravity, which could change how astronauts grow food in space

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Scientists are teaching shrimp to eat in zero gravity, which could change how astronauts grow food in space

Providing food for astronauts on long-duration missions remains one of the thorniest problems in space exploration because food cannot simply be grown as it is on Earth. A team of researchers at Japan’s Okayama University of Science has been investigating whether seafood, one of the oldest and most widely eaten foods on Earth, could actually … Read more

Astronauts show off small glowing gardens inside the International Space Station, where scientists are learning how to grow food for future missions to the moon and Mars

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Astronauts show off small glowing gardens inside the International Space Station, where scientists are learning how to grow food for future missions to the moon and Mars

The pink light seen in a recent time-lapse video taken from the International Space Station is not a camera effect or a reflection from Earth. Instead, it comes from a small plant-growing facility inside the space station’s Columbus Laboratory, where astronauts have been tending crops as part of ongoing experiments on how plants behave beyond … Read more