What is Tomatosphere™ ?
Tomatosphere™ uses the excitement of space exploration to teach the scientific method. You will study the effects of the space environment on the growth of food that will one day support long-term human space travel.
Your class has two packages of seeds labeled “A” and “B”, and each contains about 33 seeds.
One package of seeds is a “control” (untreated) group and the other is the "treatment" group, which was subjected to a simulated space environment of -80°C in a vacuum just like space. The simulation is close to like what might happen to the seeds if there was a hole in the storage system on a spacecraft with astronauts going to Mars! Will they still grow?!
One package of seeds is a “control” (untreated) group and the other is the "treatment" group, which was subjected to a simulated space environment of -80°C in a vacuum just like space. The simulation is close to like what might happen to the seeds if there was a hole in the storage system on a spacecraft with astronauts going to Mars! Will they still grow?!
We will be planting the seeds and waiting to see how many grow (germinate). Will more grow from group A or from group B?
Why are we doing this?To have enough food for survival on Mars one day, astronauts will need to grow some of their own food. The tomato is one of the candidate crops for a “farm on Mars.”
Through photosynthesis, plants use light and the carbon dioxide exhaled by humans and give off oxygen to the air that is needed for survival. Plus we get to eat them. Yum!
Why are we doing this?To have enough food for survival on Mars one day, astronauts will need to grow some of their own food. The tomato is one of the candidate crops for a “farm on Mars.”
Through photosynthesis, plants use light and the carbon dioxide exhaled by humans and give off oxygen to the air that is needed for survival. Plus we get to eat them. Yum!
Click HERE to find out about how the seeds were treated and the story behind their space journey!
