Chinese Shenzhou 16 astronauts grow vegetables aboard the Tiangong space station as part of plans for future deep space exploration. Mission Commander Jing Haipeng and rookie astronomers Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao have been at Tiangong since late May and will return to Earth on October 31 after handing over control of the station to the newly arrived Shenzhou 17 crew.

Jing and company spent time growing vegetables using two specialized sets of equipment. The first started in June and harvested four batches of lettuce. The second one was put into operation in August to grow cherry tomatoes and green onions.

The China Astronaut Research and Training Center has also created replicas on Earth, allowing researchers to compare results and analyze more precisely the differences in how plants grow in space and on Earth. Researchers say this is part of a long-term plan to help explore deep space.

“This vegetable growing apparatus is an important part of the entire environmental control and life support system. [ECLSS]and used to test related technologies in space. “We will focus on rapid and large-scale cultivation in the future,” Yang Renze, a researcher at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, told CCTV.

“The system can be applied in the field of deep space exploration, including our manned missions to land on the moon and Mars,” Yang said. “As an important part of ECLSS, plants grown from the cultivation apparatus can absorb carbon dioxide from the air to produce oxygen through photosynthesis, and then replenish and purify water through transpiration.”

China is working to send a pair of astronauts to the moon by 2030. It also plans to build a lunar base called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) in the next decade. A crewed landing on Mars is a long way off, but the Red Planet is being touted as a future destination for Chinese spaceflight. Source