About this Research Topic
A number of recent advances have enabled the progress of research investigating plant growth under spaceflight or spaceflight-simulated conditions. New technological developments such as specialized growth systems, space-related hardware, novel genome editing methods, and computational tools have enabled the ability to re-think how the community strives towards improving crops for space agriculture. In the last decade, the community has focused on understanding the physiological and molecular responses of plants under altered gravity ground simulations and aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit. Plants can grow and reproduce relatively normally under microgravity by altering their multi-omes, structure, and physiology. The current focus of this special topic is open to all aspects of continued plant space biology research and implementing novel approaches towards sustainable space crop farming for various types of missions, including the moon and Mars.
Future deep-space exploration will require sustainable production of crops in different environments, which will require tailoring specific crops to maximize their growth during specific missions. Developing novel ways to grow and monitor space crops, continuing studies aimed at understanding plant responses under confounding spaceflight-related stresses, creating resilient stress-tolerant space crops with high nutritional quality and yields, and maximizing resource recycling and biomass utilization will be essential in sustainable space agriculture. Studies addressing these or similar topics in mission-specific contexts will be invited to this special issue.
We seek original research and review articles, as well as opinion and perspective pieces on the themes listed below and any other themes broadly related to sustainable space crop production on the ISS, or for deep-space lunar and Mars missions. Studies involving model plants are also acceptable.
• Improving Controlled Environment Agriculture technologies;
• Developing phenotyping and AI/machine learning tools for digital and precision agriculture;
• Investigating plant responses to spaceflight-related biotic and/or abiotic stresses, including effects on nutrition, yield, and/or quality;
• Determining gene functions or genotype-phenotype relationships in relation to spaceflight-related biotic or abiotic stresses, or improving crop yield and nutritional quality;
• Developing and testing molecular breeding and metabolic engineering/genome editing tools for space crop improvement;
• Developing novel space crops to maximize edible biomass production;
• Exploring novel plant-animal cohabitation systems to maximize air, nutrient, and waste recycling;
• Advancing and implementing 3D printing for agriculture applications in space.
Future deep-space exploration will require sustainable production of crops in different environments, which will require tailoring specific crops to maximize their growth during specific missions. Developing novel ways to grow and monitor space crops, continuing studies aimed at understanding plant responses under confounding spaceflight-related stresses, creating resilient stress-tolerant space crops with high nutritional quality and yields, and maximizing resource recycling and biomass utilization will be essential in sustainable space agriculture. Studies addressing these or similar topics in mission-specific contexts will be invited to this special issue.
We seek original research and review articles, as well as opinion and perspective pieces on the themes listed below and any other themes broadly related to sustainable space crop production on the ISS, or for deep-space lunar and Mars missions. Studies involving model plants are also acceptable.
• Improving Controlled Environment Agriculture technologies;
• Developing phenotyping and AI/machine learning tools for digital and precision agriculture;
• Investigating plant responses to spaceflight-related biotic and/or abiotic stresses, including effects on nutrition, yield, and/or quality;
• Determining gene functions or genotype-phenotype relationships in relation to spaceflight-related biotic or abiotic stresses, or improving crop yield and nutritional quality;
• Developing and testing molecular breeding and metabolic engineering/genome editing tools for space crop improvement;
• Developing novel space crops to maximize edible biomass production;
• Exploring novel plant-animal cohabitation systems to maximize air, nutrient, and waste recycling;
• Advancing and implementing 3D printing for agriculture applications in space.
Keywords: space agriculture, controlled environment agriculture, spaceflight related stress, plant growth, genome-editing
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
