#MadeInAntarc­ti­ca - Grow­ing veg­eta­bles in the eter­nal ice

Cut off from the outside world, the DLR EDEN ISS greenhouse has been located in Antarctica, near the Neumayer III Antarctic station operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), since 2018. On the seventh continent, vegetables, salads and herbs thrive during the polar night with the help of artificial light, effective nutrient solutions and completely without soil. With the EDEN ISS greenhouse in the inhospitable environment of the Antarctic, DLR wants to get as close as possible to the conditions of a long-term mission in space. The research laboratory is not only used to test vegetable cultivation for future manned space missions to the Moon and Mars. At the same time, the scientists are researching future food production in climatically unfavourable areas such as deserts and arctic regions.

For overwintering in 2021, plant scientist Jess Bunchek from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is spending a year at the Neumayer III Antarctic Station as a DLR guest researcher. During a joint research mission by DLR and NASA, she is investigating how astronauts will be able to grow large quantities of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and herbs in the future, using as little time and energy as possible, and is putting greenhouse technology and robust plant varieties to the test. Bunchek is also recording how the green habitat and its produce affect the isolated overwintering crew on the eternal ice. She is part of the ten-member overwintering crew at Neumayer Station III.

On social media, the activities at the EDEN ISS Antarctic greenhouse can be followed using the hashtag #MadeInAntarctica. The Antarctic greenhouse has channels on Facebook and Instagram and a picture gallery on Flickr. In the blog, Jess Bunchek writes about her personal impressions of the Antarctic mission. With a new tool, the plants of the EDEN ISS greenhouse in Antarctica can be observed. Every day, the images from 34 cameras make it possible to follow how the plants are growing.