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NASA astronaut Don Pettit, recently shared a picture of an odd, purple, egg-shaped object with “tentacles” from the International Space Station (ISS) on the social media platform X.
While you could be forgiven for thinking that this was some kind of alien creature, it is in fact only a potato that Pettit grew in space.
Although the colour is not commonly seen, potatoes can be purple , mainly due to high levels of anthocyanins.
In a post on X, Pettit shared more about his space food-growing hobby.
“Spudnik-1, an orbiting potato on the International Space Station. I flew potatoes on Expedition 72 for my space garden, an activity I did in my off-duty time. This is an early purple potato, complete with a spot of hook Velcro to anchor it in my improvised grow light terrarium,” Pettit said.
“Potatoes are one of the most efficient plants based on edible nutrition to total plant mass (including roots). Recognised by Andy Weir in his book/movie “The Martian,” potatoes will have a place in future exploration of space. So I thought it good to get started now,” he added.
Pettit has captured several photos from his four space journeys since the first one in 2002, with a total of 590 days spent in orbit.
Some of his photos include comets like C/2023 A3 and C/2024 G3, along with aurora displays from space, such as the October 2024 one.
The rise of food-growing in space
Developing technology to grow food in space, especially on Mars and the Moon, has become a significant focus for a number of space agencies in the last few years.
These include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), among others.
This is mainly to enable long-duration missions to Mars and the Moon, as well as permanent settlements, where sending all the food required from Earth would be practically impossible.
NASA has already successfully grown lettuce and other leafy greens, as well as peppers, with their space agricultural technology Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) programmes.
On the other hand, the ESA focuses more on bioregenerative systems, which involve growing food from microorganisms and stem cells, along with lab-grown food.
The DLR is also focusing on automated greenhouse techniques, which it uses to further its space farming efforts, as well as Antarctica studies.
Some key technologies include hydroponics, which involves growing plants with nutrient-rich water instead of soil, along with bioreactors to turn yeast or bacterial fermentation into protein.