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Students helping Nasa decide which plants to grow in space

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NEW YORK: Not only scientists with advanced degrees but students are also helping Nasa decide what crops to grow in space to expand food options and increase plant diversity.


For the past couple of years, Nasa has been partnering with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami, Florida, to encourage student interest in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, Amanda Griffin from Nasa’s John F Kennedy Space Center, wrote in a blog late on Saturday.


Nasa partners with The Fairchild Challenge — an annual standards-based environmental outreach programme which reaches more than 125,000 students annually — to help determine which edible plants might be suitable for growth in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in the Veggie growth chamber.


Using equipment that mimics the environmental conditions aboard the ISS, students test factors that may influence plant growth, flavour and nutrition.


Nasa will use students’ data to determine which plants to begin growing in space.


This year, the Homeless Families Foundation — that provides housing assistance and educational services for homeless families living in Columbus — added its students’ talents to The Fairchild Challenge.


After school and during the summer, the foundation serves 80 elementary and middle school children with hands-on STEM and problem-solving activities. — IANS


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