Lumen Waite 100 - Flipbook - Page 54
P4S will conduct research to provide the next generation
of space explorers with nutritious foods, and on-demand
supply of materials and medicines to enable long-term
space habitation. It officially started operations in early
2024 and will run to at least 2031.
Commonly found growing on the surface of lakes and
other bodies of still water, Jenny says duckweed already
has features that make it suitable as a key candidate plant
for space.
“Duckweed doesn’t waste resources making a root
system, and the entire plant is edible,” she says. “Technology
for growing plants in vertical indoor systems has improved
so much, it’s now becoming viable to grow large amounts
of plants like duckweed.”
“YES, LONG-TERM SPACE HABITATION
IS ON THE HORIZON; BUT IT’S ALSO
REALLY IMPORTANT OUR RESEARCH
DELIVERS HERE ON EARTH.”
Mortimer’s research programs are investigating protein
content in duckweed, as well as its potential to produce bioplastics and molecules that offer health benefits, such as
pharmaceuticals. She is confident any promising research
findings from her labs can be translated for use on Earth
and in space.
- PROFESSOR MATTHEW GILLIHAM
Centre Director for P4S, Professor Matthew Gilliham,
explains that while space habitation is one focal point, research taking place within P4S programs needs to produce
terrestrial outcomes.
“There are very few places in the world, other than this
Waite campus, where very fundamental research into how
plants work at a molecular level is so well connected with
other aspects of agriculture,” Jenny says. “Here, we work
with plant breeders, and we’re co-located with CSIRO and
the South Australian Research and Development Institute,
so the links with application are always there.”
“Yes, long-term space habitation is on the horizon; but
it’s also really important our research delivers here on
Earth,” Matthew says. “Working through the lens of space
leads to new and unexpected opportunities to improve
sustainability on this planet, especially aligned to biomanufacturing and controlled-environment agriculture.”
Although Peter Waite was not a scientist, he recognised
the importance of experimentation and innovation in
advancing agricultural practice and economic development
in South Australia. “It behoves us to call science to our aid
to a greater extent than hitherto has been done, otherwise
we cannot hope to keep in the forefront,” he wrote in 1913,
explaining his land gift to the University of Adelaide.
With 30 partners from around the world, including the
Australian Space Agency, P4S is an Australian contributor
to NASA’s Artemis mission. Artemis plans to put the first
woman and person of colour on the moon by 2030, and to
develop the technologies required for humans to venture to
Mars and return to Earth in the 2040s.
Whether tackling plant disease, a changing climate or
space travel, blue-sky research continues Waite’s vision of
applying science to answer life’s biggest challenges.
“We’re going to need plants that grow efficiently in new
environments, that are highly nutritious, and that are useful
in terms of producing medicines and materials on demand,”
says Matthew. “And these will be just as applicable on Earth
as they are for space.”
Professor John Randles
Associate Professor Jenny Mortimer contributes to
P4S as University of Adelaide node leader, and with her
expertise in Plant Synthetic Biology. She says plants are
essentially living factories.
“Plants manufacture a huge array of different chemicals,”
Jenny says. “They take carbon dioxide, sunlight and water,
plus a handful of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphate,
and make products that are useful to humans – wood, foods
and medicines, just to name a few.”
Jenny says humans have been using breeding techniques
to create plants with useful characteristics for thousands
of years.
“Our current research is just a continuation of that
history, but with new techniques to make it happen even
more quickly – which is vital in the face of climate change,
and to meet new purposes such as space travel,” she says.
Zero-waste plants optimised for controlled environments – in other words, high-yield plants that are useful
in their entirety and can be grown inside – is a core area of
focus for P4S.
“Plants that are grown indoors don’t have to deal with all
the challenges that come with being outside,” Jenny says.
“And so they can just get on with producing what you want
them to produce, whether that’s a particular molecule that’s
useful as a drug, or plant proteins for food.”
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