Episode 62: Gardening the International Space Station, with Gioia Massa

Feature Guest: Gioia Massa Imagine enjoying a romantic and nutritious picnic - on Mars! If such a dream is ever to be realized, we're going to have to learn how to grow plants in space and on other worlds. Today we're joined at The Star Spot by space biologist and NASA scientist Gioia Massa to discuss the building of a green oasis in space. Current in Space Today's news team on all the Red Planet developments: MOM is on Mars. Dave explains how India became the first nation to successfully reach Mars on its initial attempt with MOM, a mission the budget of which is less than a hollywood Mars blockbuster. After 2 years Curiosity has arrived at its primary destination: Mount Sharp. Celine gives us a retrospective on the rover's history and shares excitement over upcoming drilling operation in the mountain promised land. Finally Anuj introduces us to the newest NASA member of the Mars exploration family: MAVEN, an orbiter designed to study how the Martian atmosphere evolved over hundreds of millions of years, seeking to determine whether liquid water was around long enough for life to evolve. About Our Guest   Dr. Gioia Massa is NASA project scientist at the kennedy space centre. Massa studied plant and space biology at Penn State University and worked as a research scientist at Purdue University. Her expertise is in space life sciences, advanced life support and agriculture. She is supervising a project called VEGGIE, the most advanced vegetable garden, or salad bar, ever grown on the international space station.