Have you ever thought a microscopic worm may be essential to long-term space missions? Why not? We are using these tiny worms, nematodes, for an eco-friendly agricultural solution on Earth. Hence, we can use them for space exploration.
We are looking for a solution to grow plants during space missions as the main component of bioregenerative life support systems and food sources for space travelers. Plants encounter various environmental stresses, such as microgravity, radiation, and pressure, which are even more complicated under space mission conditions. Hence, we need to create innovative solutions to fight against these obstacles.
Pesticides may be a vital stress source in a space mission for plants. Here, we are looking for a natural and practical solution. The answer is the project “Astronematode,” conducted by ARS’s Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Station researchers and Pheronym, Inc., a company with expertise in producing eco-friendly pest control via beneficial nematode pheromones.
The Astronematode project asks the fundamental question of space missions: “How does microgravity affect living organisms?” Here, our organisms are beneficial nematodes, known as entomopathogenic nematodes, which kill insect pests. In scoop of the Astronematode project, scientists sent these nematodes to the International Space Station (ISS) to answer this question. They checked nematodes’ ability to find and kill wax moth caterpillars besides nematode reproduction rate. According to the results of this study, nematodes showed similar behavioral patterns to those on Earth.
“The Astronematode is an innovative and eco-friendly solution for the future of space exploration. Alternatives are chemical insecticides, and these chemicals are not a healthy solution specifically for an enclosed environment such as a space station.” CEO of the Pheronym company, Dr. Fatma Kaplan, said.
We thank these researchers for their innovative and inspiring projects and ISS U.S. National Laboratory as an initial investigation sponsor.
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