At approximately 8pm EST on Wednesday, January 13, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Florida. Inside were stem cells, a sextant designed for emergency navigation in deep space, and tissue chips created to help treat heart conditions on Earth. And nestled alongside them, 320 snippets of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines, individually wrapped in small bundles of soil.
Sending fancy French grapes into orbit might sound like an expensive PR stunt. There is, after all, a long history of shooting foods into space for no good reason. The tandoori lamb chop, the chicken nugget, and the haggis attached to a weather balloon and shot 20 miles above Earth to celebrate Burns Night, to name but a few. But these grapevines are no gimmick, insist Space Cargo Unlimited, the French startup behind the experiment. By sending the vines to grow in the harsh conditions of the ISS for the last ten months (along with 12 bottles of Bordeaux red wine) the company hopes to create plants hardy enough to survive the ever harsher conditions here on Earth. And, in so doing, it’s one of a number of private research companies that believe the solution to feeding a growing global population, amidst ever worsening climate change, could be found somewhere in space.
Now safely back on Earth, the grapevines will be rehydrated, replanted and closely observed for signs of any change to their own genetic expression. As well as checking for changes in their response to stressors, like temperature and salt levels in soil, researchers will take samples from their buds to check for alterations in their metabolism and metabolic pathways, says Lebert.
Read the complete article at www.wired.co.uk.