Hi Hamama Friends!

In the past few years, space exploration has gained more and more popularity with people across the world. How exciting to think about the opportunity for humans to explore life among the stars and planets! 🚀 🌠 To do this, scientists are looking for ways to make life in space more attainable. Hamama had the wonderful opportunity of donating microgreen growing kits to the Astrobotany International Research Initiative(AIRI) that studies how microgreens can grow in low pressure environments.

“The Astrobotany International Research Initiative (AIRI) is an open source astrobotany research platform that seeks to support ongoing space plant biology research through an interactive, collaborative space. AIRI aims to engage researchers, academics, citizen scientists, university students, and K-12 educators and students in authentic astrobiology research that is aligned with, and supports, ongoing astrobotany research at space agencies and research organizations around the world. This program has been developed in collaboration with postdoctoral researchers at NASA Kennedy Space, and the University of Madison Wisconsin’s Gilroy Lab.” ¹

Our microgreen kits were selected for this study because the kits fit in small places, the growing process is simple, and they do not require much maintenance. 

One of the questions that you may ask yourself is why would microgreens be selected for this study instead of their more mature counterparts?

Microgreens were seen as a viable option because “plants grown in long-term space missions will need to produce nutrient dense yields with minimal energy and space requirements. While microgreens may not be a future space farmer’s main source of food, they may actually be an integral source of vital nutrients. In the first stage of the “Microgreens in Microgravity“, the goal is to identify microgreen biomass variation based on growth conditions. At a basic level, this may be measured with a controlled biomass measurement after a defined growing period. As an extension, canopy area measurements may be taken. The data collected in this stage may identify growth patterns between microgreen species that would direct future space-flight experiments.” ²

How incredibly cool is it that microgreens could be what fuels the future in Space!? Grab your kit and join in on the experimenting. Such a fun way to bond with the entire family! The people at Astrobotany have some pretty amazing projects to test and see what type of plants can be grown in space. You can read more about their process with microgreens here. To learn more about Astrobotany and all of their exciting projects and research you can visit their website here!

Microgreens are packed with so many nutrients and vitamins and will enhance any diet. On our website, we encourage our growers to learn more about the flavors that they are selecting. To learn more about the nutrients in our microgreens, you can visit our website and select "Meet Your Microgreens".

Growing microgreens can also be a fun project for the entire family to discuss the importance of nutrient dense food while also discussing what scientists and astronauts are doing right now to prepare for a life in space.

We are so excited for the future of Hamama and can’t wait to see the places we'll go!

Sources:

1. Barker, Dr. Richard. “Astrobotany International Research Initiative (AIRI).” Astrobotany, 10 Dec. 2021, https://astrobotany.com/airi/.

2. Barker, Dr. Richard. “Astrobotany International Research Initiative (AIRI).” Astrobotany, 10 Dec. 2021, https://astrobotany.com/airi-stage-i-microgreen-biomass-analysis/.