Astronauts grew green chile on the space station and made themselves space tacos

[hunter]

Outer space just got a little more delicious.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station had the pleasure of dining on space tacos last weekend: tacos topped with green chile that was actually grown in space. As part of NASA's Plant Habitat-04 investigation, scientists began growing hatch chile — a type of pepper found in New Mexico's Hatch Valley — aboard the ISS in July in an effort to understand more about "plant-microbe interactions" in space, NASA said.

Astronauts have grown other crops, such as lettuce and radishes, in space before. But peppers are more difficult to grow in space because they take a relatively long time to germinate and bear fruit, according to the NASA release.

This is the first time NASA has grown peppers in space, and astronauts finally got to taste the fruits of their labor on Friday before collecting data on the red and green peppers that were harvested. Astronaut Megan McArthur shared photos of what she called her "best space tacos yet," which were made using fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes, and the hatch chile grown on the ISS.

--more--

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/02/1051428046/astronauts-grew-green-chile-on-the-space-station-and-made-themselves-space-tacos

Here's the nasa report:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8276

They have this listed for earth applications:

This investigation helps advance the technology for growing plants in controlled indoor environments that remove variables such as pests and climate extremes and use significantly less water. Peppers have not been grown indoors as much as tomatoes or leafy greens and this demonstration could indicate the feasiblility of adapting a field pepper cultivar to a controlled agriculture environment without genetic manipulation or further breeding.

Maybe fresh food for astronomers living on the far side of the moon... I hope everyone gets to wear the purple wigs and silver uniforms, not just the women.



https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/31537/whats-the-reason-for-the-purple-hair-on-the-british-1969-70-television-series

[Cracklin Charlie]

1. That's a billion dollar chile.

I like the hatch chile peppers, but, that’s a lot for one pepper.

[American Interregnum]

2. Tale of the Tape

Or digital resonance imaging, or whatever the hell we're using to record these days!

[gopiscrap]

3. welcome to DU

[American Interregnum]

5. Salute'

[hunter]

4. Thanks for that video.

I can hear my grandma saying, "Don't play with your food!"

[orangecrush]

6. This should have 1,000 recs