[Development of a cultivation technology and selection of leaf vegetable cultures for space greenhouse]

We plan to perform space experiments on development of a technology for cultivation of leaf vegetables that might be a component of future life support systems for space crews. For this purpose, we are going to fly research greenhouses with the crop area from 0.03 up to 0.1 m2 inside the universal docking module of the ISS Russian segment. To prepare for future space experiments, ground investigations were made in order to compare crop capacity of various artificial soils used to grow leaf vegetables in greenhouse Svet. Useful life of root module Svet can be extended with a new technology based on resupply of fibrous substrate with nutrients. The most effective volume of soil per a plant was determined which sustains high productivity of leaf vegetables in Svet. To select leaf vegetables for in-space cultivation, we conducted investigations of productivity, morphometric and biochemical characteristics, and palatability of 18 cultures including alternative greens highly popular in Japan and China which have been earlier tested neither in laboratory nor in space within the closed eco-system projects. We would prioritize mizuna, pak choi, tatsoi, rapina or broccoli raab, and red giant mustard as objects for in-space investigations.