RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) — Space is the final frontier of agriculture.

“It’s expensive to send food to astronauts, so ideally we want them to grow some of their own food,” said Dr. Robert Jinkerson, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering in the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside.

While NASA plans missions to the moon and Mars, scientists like Jinkerson are researching how to grow plant- and fungi-based foods using artificial photosynthesis.

“Our work focuses on how we can actually grow plants without light, and we try to reduce and minimize the amount of light,” he said.

Instead of sunlight, Jinkerson has managed to grow tomatoes using acetate, an alternative carbon-based energy source. Jinkerson worked with Dr. Martha Orozco-Cardenas, director of the Plant Transformation Research Center in UCR’s College of Natural and Agriculture.

She succeeded in genetically modifying tomato plants to make them more compact and reduce the ratio of stems and leaves to fruit.

“When we showed the results to NASA, the astronauts were very excited,” said Orozco-Cardenas.

The research results are currently being evaluated at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the next phase, the seeds will be sent to the International Space Station.

“The astronauts will harvest the fruit and then the seeds, replant them and then grow another batch of tomatoes. This will be the first seed-to-seed-to-seed experiment in space,” Jinkerson said.

But tomatoes aren’t the only thing on the menu. Jinkerson and his team have used the same technology to develop a protein-rich variety of mushroom.

Last summer, his team Nolux received $250,000 for its research as runner-up in NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge.

“This is one of the first applications of artificial photosynthesis to food production, which is growing mushrooms. We can feed the mushrooms the acetate and grow them in space,” Jinkerson said.

These comic strip clippings could one day give astronauts the opportunity to extend their stay in space.

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