2007-09-01 04:36:59 · 6 answers · asked by ninja 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Botany
Some might think that this question is a lame one, but it isn't. Plants are not natural in space, since, to the best of our current knowledge, complex life (as we know it) evolved on Earth. To the best of my knowledge, complex plants were carried to space for the first time during the Apollo Program of the 1960s. There was much interest in the 1960s in how seeds might germinate, grow, behave, and evolve in the harsh environment of space (e.g., partial vacuum, intense solar radiation [especially UV in the range of 100 to 399 nm], cosmic radiation, other particle radiation form the Sun, intense magnetic fields, etc.). The early investigations included bell pepper plants. More recent studies on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) have included other plants. STS-118 has returned basil seeds for students to study after space exposure. Russian experiments of peas on the ISS has provided the basis for genetic studies of their evolution in that environment. In all of this it must be remembered that plants are a life form and that they are foreign to the space environment. For future space missions to the Moon and Mars, plants will become essential to space travelers survival. Life from Earth will evolve under the harsh environment of space into new forms. This is how some plants will continue to evolve under the influence and application of advanced space technologies. Wherever humans go in space, they will take their plants with them, and special hybrids will needed to be developed for these uses.
2007-09-01 14:03:24 · answer #1 · answered by Dr. H. 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
So far, the only plants we have seen in outer space are the ones we put there. Many astronauts have taken plants into space in order to research the effects on them and to investigate the possibilities of farming on other planets. They cannot survive without a supply of oxygen and water, so they depend on humans.
No life-forms of truly extra-terrestrial origin have thus far been discovered.
2007-09-01 14:40:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually so far i don't believe we have found any living plants in space. maybe fossils.
2007-09-01 13:54:54 · answer #3 · answered by KJC 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Really? What planet did you came from?
2007-09-01 11:40:42 · answer #4 · answered by pedestrian 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There isnt
2007-09-01 11:39:30 · answer #5 · answered by The Answer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
idk i just learned 2 seconds ago tht there was. sounds cool. i guess every1 learns something new everyday
2007-09-01 11:42:37 · answer #6 · answered by Doing Me 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋