There's something majestic, even awe-inspiring about the sight of planet Earth as a blue disc, hanging in the vastness of space. Upon their return in early April, scientists at the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture plan to grow the seeds and screen them for useful traits to better understand space-induced mutations and identify new varieties.NASA says this "blue marble" image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. While in space, they were exposed to a complex mixture of cosmic radiation, microgravity, and extreme temperatures, inside and outside the International Space Station (ISS). The seeds were sent in an uncrewed cargo shuttle from NASA on 7 November 2022. Two kinds of seeds are now in space: arabidopsis, a type of cress that has been studied extensively by plant botanists and geneticists, and sorghum, which belongs to the family of millets and is a drought and heat-tolerant grain grown in many developing countries for food. The experiment aims at developing new crops that can adapt to climate change and help boost global food security. While similar experiments have been carried out since 1946, this is the first time that the IAEA and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO) are conducting genomic and biological analyses on seeds sent to space in around 60 years of experience in inducing plant mutations that could be of benefit to people and planet. With the world’s population estimated to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, there is a clear need for innovative solutions through science and technology aimed at producing more food, as well as crops that are more resilient and farming methods that are more sustainable, the agencies said.
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