Imagine a future where the foods on your plate come from the cosmos. StarLab Oasis, a startup from the United Arab Emirates, is seriously thinking about it: the plan is to build a galactic greenhouse to accelerate the mutation of seeds, in the hope of producing more resistant and productive varieties.
When the sky is no longer the limit
StarLab's first steps involve sending seeds to the International Space Station, where astronauts will grow them. The long-term goal, however, is to grow the seeds in a dedicated commercial space greenhouse which the startup intends to be operational in 2027.
They are not just pious intentions, or proclamations as ends in themselves. The startup has big shoulders: it is supported by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, as part of a $41 million program to increase food production in local arid environments.
Urgency does the rest: currently, the United Arab Emirates they import about 90% of their food, and it's a problem that StarLab Oasis hopes to help solve.
How exactly does the process work?
As mentioned, the objective of the StarLab program (found here read more) is to accelerate plant mutagenesis, resulting in the development of more robust or productive plant varieties. Examples? Drought tolerant crops, or plants capable of growing in brackish conditions.
Another benefit of a dedicated space greenhouse is that it could help design systems to produce food for space missions to the moon or Mars.
Seeds of the future
For Allen Herbert, co-founder of StarLab Oasis, a space-based seed breeding program will help increase food security on Earth. “Space is a place where resources are limited,” he says. It's the perfect place to do research, and the same technology can then be applied directly on Earth."
Climate change will require many adaptations: and apparently, considering the fact that on Earth we can also exploit the vertical greenhouses, we don't need space to cultivate. We need space.
