The project within the ISS' Japanese-run Kibo Laboratory is examining how herbs grow in microgravity. Like all ISS horticultural projects, the idea is to better understand how to cultivate crops in space to support humans on longer and farther expeditions, such as to Mars. The various projects are examining variables including light, nutrition, growth medium, and water.
For a month, astronaut Noguchi grew basil hydroponically. His work is part of a broader initiative called the Asian Herb in Space program, involving Japan, Malaysia, and 10 other countries working on Earth and in space.
On Feb. 16, Noguchi injected water into four small, enclosed, transparent glass chambers which already contained basil seeds.
“We'll put some light on top of it, and see how it grows for the next thirty days. We use the Space Station General Lighting Assembly (GLA),” Noguchi explains. To help the basil along, Noguchi added a photosynthetic film on top of the chamber.
According to NASA, the chambers will go into -80°C storage in the ISS' Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) before heading back to Earth at -95°C on a SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle.
In addition to Japan and Malaysia, participants in Asian Herb in Space include Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the UAE, and Vietnam.
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