NASA's plant experiment, which grows and harvests chili peppers in space, breaks records for being the space plant that feeds astronauts the most.
Quoted from Science Alert, the chili planting experiment also made history as the longest experiment conducted on the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the second time chili has been grown in space. Last November, for the first time, the ISS crew used chili peppers to gobble up tacos. Matt Romeyn, chief investigator for the chili-growing experiment, said the crop production team at NASA did not expect to achieve the two records.
Harvest of cayenne pepper grown on the ISS is slightly longer than testing on Earth. This means that the ISDD trial can be extended for another 17 days.
Chili seedlings in the experimental center Plant Habitat-04 (PH-04) grew for four months before being harvested in October.
Space chili harvest enjoyed with tacos. Photo: NASA
"Coincidentally, the schedule for changing the Crew-2 astronaut team to the Crew-3 astronaut team was delayed, allowing the Crew-2 team the opportunity to harvest and taste the space chili," said Romeyn.
Romeyn said experiments growing vegetables in space were intended to help meet the nutritional needs of astronauts and help maintain their health while on duty on the ISS.
For the next experiment, scientists at NASA expect chili plants to grow in 120 days. In previous experiments, chilies could only be harvested for 137 days, making it the longest experiment in space. The longest previous experiment was in 2016 when zinnia flowers were grown for 90 days.
"PH-04 boosted the production of advanced space plants significantly. The experiment involved taking field cultivars of Hatch peppers from New Mexico, dwarfing them to fit within plant habitats, and figuring out how to productively grow the first generally recognized fruit crop in space. ," he added.