Students will have the opportunity to grow tomatoes from seeds that have traveled with Canadian Astronaut Marc Garneau in space for 12 days on shuttle mission STS-97, and compare them to tomato plants grown from seeds that stayed on Earth. Food availability and life support are major limiting factors in extended space exploration. Plants will be needed to provide a source of fresh, nutritious food and to produce a vital life support system including oxygen, fresh water and carbon dioxide uptake. Scientists need to know if space travel affects plant germination and plant growth, before these extended missions can take place.
Tomatoes are extremely versatile and nutritious.
They have high levels of vitamin A and vitamin C and also contain lycopene an ingredient that may help prevent certain cancers and cardiovascular disease. Tomatoes are included in Canada s Food Guide to Healthy Eating s recommendation of five to twelve servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Scientists at the University of Guelph have found that red light treatment stimulates germination and early seedling vigour. Red light treatment means the seeds have been exposed to a specific wavelengths of red and infra red light. The project calls for 400,000 seeds.