LIT experiment takes farming to new frontier

Limerick Institute of Technology has created Irish space history after an experiment that could deliver a breakthrough to successfully growing crops in extreme conditions on Earth was loaded on the International Space Station.

The project, which was chosen along with eight other global winners will explore over the next 28 days how the clover-like payload reacts in space and whether or not it can be used as a natural fertiliser for crops there. This is the first time an Irish institution has been a leader and principal investigator in an experiment to the International Space Station.

The research is led by Gary Stutte, who for the past three years has been on secondment as a Marie Curie Research Fellow to the Controlled Environment Laboratory for Life Science at the Institute. The SpaceX-CRS 4/ Dragon berthed on the International Space Station last week and the experiment was loaded and commenced on Saturday.