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Plants in Space

Martian Gardens
Humans rely on plants for food, oxygen, and psychological wellbeing. To support a long-term presence in deep space it will be essential to have plants as our partners. To achieve this we will need to breed and modify both plants themselves, as well as the habitats we grow them in.
 
While capability for human space travel is leaping forward, technology for critical life support systems is lagging far behind. Food to sustain long-term missions is one of the largest challenges for mission planners, as the volume and weight of required food ends up too expensive to transport.

As a consequence, long-term human missions in deep space will have to supply a significant portion of mission supplies from materials found, grown, or manufactured on board. The development of new technologies and habitats for plant-based food cultivation will harness the benefits of oxygen production as well as to human nutrition and wellbeing.

Funding gives plants in space a growth boost

UWA is one of three Australian universities to receive part of almost $3 million (£1.5M) in funding from the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund through the lead agent on the project, Vertical Future.

Read on UWA Impact

Plants in space research gets funding boost

The University of Western Australia is one of five Australian universities to receive a $90 million funding boost to create food and medicines for space explorers.

Read on UWA Impact

Humans are going back to the Moon, and beyond – but how will we feed them?

NASA’s Artemis I launch is a major step forward in humans going deeper and spending longer in space than ever before.

Read at The Conversation
Both plants and their habitats can be modified through environmental cues and the synthetic environments we create for them, allowing us to improve their performance for a particular use. We can also design plants with new functions, optimised for the specialist needs of the space environment using synthetic biology technologies.

Fully understanding plant metabolism and gas exchange (photosynthesis and respiration) and how these change in response to environmental conditions will be critical to understand what plants can do for us in deep space, as well as how they need to be modified to grow well in space environments.
 

Our research groups, led by Professor Harvey Millar, Professor Ryan Lister and Professor Ian Small, focus on:

  • plant respiration modification to maximise growth and minimise CO2 release
  • plant growth habitat design for the International Space Station and other off-earth missions
  • plant protein production system design and optimisation
  • understanding plant cell responses to altered environments and growth conditions
  • engineering plant gene activity through programmable genetic computation for optimised plant performance and modified function
ISC logo grown on agar plates
Professor Harvey Millar and Dr Hui Cao in the P4S Growth Chamber
The Plants in Space Node can be found at UWA's School of Molecular Sciences.
The UWA Node of Plants in Space is a member of the Plants for Space Centre of Excellence (ARC)
Plants for Space Centre of Excellence
Node Leader

Professor Harvey Millar
harvey.millar [at] uwa.edu.au
Bayliss Building, UWA
35 Stirling Highway
Crawley 6009 WA

Millar Laboratory

Professor Harvey Millar

Lead: Plants for Space

Dr Katharina Belt

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Ian Castleden

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Hui Cao

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Owen Duncan

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Adil Khan

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Troy Miller

Plants for Space (Millar)

Dr Samalka Wijeweera

Plants for Space (Millar)

Selin Altintas

Plants for Space (Millar)

Ms Samantha Harvie

Plants for Space

William (Yuezhi) Huang

Plants for Space (Millar)

Bryan Hau

Plants for Space (Millar)

Franziska Kuhnert

Plants for Space (Millar)

Lei Li

Plants for Space (Millar)

Xiaoyu Liu

Plants for Space (Millar)

Lister Laboratory

Professor Ryan Lister

Plants for Space (Lister)

Dr James Lloyd

Plants for Space

Dr Marina Oliva

Plants for Space (Lister)

Elliot Fourie

Plants for Space (Lister)

Patrick Gong

Plants for Space

Gabrielle Herring

Plants for Space (Lister)

Harish Jadhav

Plants for Space (Lister)

Florence Ly

Plants for Space (Lister)

Jia (Meggie) Yuan Zhu

Plants for Space (Lister)

Small Laboratory

Professor Ian Small

Plants for Space (Small)

Gilang Bintang Fajar Suhono

Plants for Space (Small)

Leni Campbell-Clause

Plants for Space (Small)

Catherine Colas des Francs-Small

Plants for Space (Small)

Michael Dennis

Plants for Space (Small)

Farley Kwok van der Giezen

Plants for Space (Small)

Su Yi Low

Plants for Space (Small)

Anuradha Pullakhandam

Plants for Space (Small)

Thien Tran

Plants for Space (Small)

Dao Trong Nhan

Plants for Space (Small)

Amy Viljoen

Plants for Space (Small)