Seedling Growth-3 (SpaceX-11)

Seedling Growth-3 is the third in a series of joint NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) science missions to study light- and gravity-signaling in plants.  The Seedling Growth-3 spaceflight experiment, led by ESA and supported by NASA, will be conducted using the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) aboard the International Space Station, the only laboratory facility where it is possible to reliably and simultaneously vary both light and levels of reduced gravity. 

During the Seedling Growth-3 experiment, eight genetic strains of the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana will be studied in two experiment runs.  The experiment will be prepared at Ames Research Center in conjunction with the Ames and ESA teams.  Then it will be transported to Kennedy Space Center by members of the Ames team.  Once onboard the ISS, the seeds will be placed in the EMCS where they will be hydrated and then exposed to varying conditions of light exposure and gravity.  Images will be recorded to document the growth and movement of the seedlings throughout the whole experiment and downloaded in real time.  They will then be either frozen or chemically fixed and returned back to Earth for post-flight analysis. 

Seedling Growth-3 will help us gain a better understanding of the basic mechanisms of light and gravity-sensing in plants.  Results from this research have potential uses both for improving the long-term sustainability of agricultural production on Earth and also for developing plant-based bio-regenerative life support systems needed for humans to colonize other worlds, such as the moon and Mars. 

Project Manager: Elizabeth Pane, NASA Ames Research Center
Project Scientist: Gwo-Shing Sun, Ph.D., FILMSS, NASA Ames Research Center
ESA Principal Investigator: Dr. Fransisco Javier Medina, Ph.D., Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC)
ESA Co-Investigator: Dr. Raul Herranz, Ph.D., Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC)
NASA Co-Investigator: Dr. John Z. Kiss, Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Greensboro
NASA Co-Investigator: Dr. Richard E. Edelmann, Ph.D., Miami University
Payload Developer: NASA Ames Research Center
EMCS Hardware Developer: ESA/EADS Astrium
EMCS User Support and Operations Center: Norwegian User Support and Operations Centre (N-USOC)

Learn More
For more information, see the Space Station Research Explorer for the Seedling Growth-3 mission.

See the Seedling Growth-2 mission webpage
See the Seedling Growth-1 mission webpage