Plant Adaptive Strategies and Cultivation in Extraterrestrial Environments

Dear Colleagues,

The goals of space exploration are to pave the way for human missions to the Moon and Mars, which pass through a stepwise exploration strategy including studies in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to further develop technologies and gain fundamental science knowledge to enable and de-risk deep-space habitation. Significant scientific and technological challenges must be addressed to support such ambitious goals, including the effects of space factors on biological systems, including plants.

This Special Issue welcomes high-quality papers that study the effects of extraterrestrial environment on plants (e.g., plants’ responses to ionizing radiation and altered gravity) as well as cultivation challenges in space farming (e.g., nutrient and water delivery sub-systems, light and airflow management, ISRU—in situ resource utilization) to achieve a deeper knowledge about the plants’ adaptive strategies in space as well as to design cultivation requirements in bioregenerative life-support systems (BLSS) and shielding strategies for human space exploration.

Indeed, the long-term human permanence in space, on orbital stations, planetary platforms, or spaceships will rely on BLSS. These systems, attempting to create an Earth-like environment, cannot exist without autotrophs, which represent a source of fresh and high-quality food, and are fundamental for important ecological functions such as air regeneration, water recovery, and waste recycling. Plants can adapt to extreme environments on Earth and can grow and develop even in the presence of extraterrestrial factors such as altered gravity and ionizing radiation. However, the development of BLSS requires advances and synergic interactions among disciplines including agrotechnology, botany, plant ecology, engineering, etc. Knowledge about the short- and long-term effects of the extraterrestrial factors on plant growth and development is necessary to choose the best species, define the requirements of cultivation facilities, and develop cultivation protocols in BLSS. The current literature shows that modifications at the genetic, morpho-anatomical, and eco-physiological levels occur in photosynthetic organisms grown in ground-based experiments also performed through space analogues. Moreover, in closed environments, especially in the case of reduced volumes, environmental factors (such as light intensity and quality, CO₂ concentration, relative humidity, water availability, and substrate type) need to be accurately selected, modulated, monitored, and controlled in order to obtain high photosynthetic efficiency, resource use efficiency, good yields in terms of biomass production and quality of edible parts.

The research on biology and crop production in space also brings benefits for Earth applications, pointing to sustainability in agriculture.

Prof. Dr. Veronica De Micco
Dr. Chiara Amitrano
Guest Editors

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