According to Space.com, astronauts from China’s Shenzhou 16 mission have announced the successful harvest of four batches of “space-grown” lettuce, cultivated on China’s Tiangong Space Station (Tiangong 2).
In addition to lettuce, the special garden tended by the Shenzhou 16 team—which includes commander Jing Haipeng and astronauts Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao—also features leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, and various other plants.
Vegetables grown on the Tiangong Space Station – (Photo: CCTV).
They grew the vegetables using two specialized equipment sets, with the first harvest occurring in June, beginning with the lettuce.
The second growing area became operational in August, featuring cherry tomatoes and green onions.
Following this success, the Shenzhou 16 team returned to Earth, handing over operations to the newly arrived Shenzhou 17 crew at the Tiangong Space Station.
China’s Tiangong Space Station – (Photo: SPACE NEWS).
“These vegetable growing devices are a crucial part of the entire Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), used in space to validate related technologies,” said researcher Yang Renze from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center to CCTV.
Mr. Renze also mentioned that in the future, they will focus on fast and large-scale farming.
This system could be applied to deep space exploration, including planned missions to the Moon and Mars by China in the future.
The plants help absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air to produce oxygen during photosynthesis, subsequently regenerating and purifying water through transpiration.
China is also making efforts to send two astronauts to the Moon before 2030, along with plans for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) for the coming decade.
